What Does Ezra 5:7 Mean?
They sent a letter to him, and thus was written in its midst, Unto Darius the king, all wholeness.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
They sent a letter unto him, wherein was written thus; Unto Darius the king, all peace.THE KEY
The letter’s greeting carries more than a wish for calm: “all peace” speaks a wish for Darius’s wholeness.
THE MEANING
When a message reaches you, peace can carry a wish for your whole well-being, not merely a quiet moment. “All peace” places that wish at the threshold of what is said next.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Peace means only the absence of conflict; this word also carries wholeness and soundness.
THE ROOT
שְׁלָמָא
shelāmā
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be whole, complete, or sound.
“all wholeness” in this verse is shelāmā. This Aramaic greeting carries the same Semitic root as Hebrew shalom: wholeness, completeness, and soundness. So “all peace” holds a wider wish than calm alone: well-being made whole.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Peace, wholeness
שָׁלוֹם
The Hebrew cognate shows that peace can name a whole condition of well-being, not only the end of conflict.
shalem: Whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This related form makes the root’s sense of completeness visible beneath the greeting.
THE PATTERN
A greeting of peace speaks a wish for wholeness over a person or community before the message unfolds.
And so shall you say to him who lives in prosperity, Wholeness be to you, and wholeness to your house, and wholeness to all that you have.The LORD lift up his face upon you, and give you wholeness.Then on that same evening, the first day of the week, when the doors were locked where the disciples had gathered together for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, Wholeness be with you.THE THREAD
Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all peoples, nations, and tongues that dwell in all the earth. Let your wholeness be multiplied to you.Daniel’s Aramaic greeting uses the same שלם (sh-l-m) root of wholeness and extends its wish to peoples, nations, and languages. Ezra’s letter directs that same expansive wish toward Darius.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us