the Berasit Hebrew Dictionary

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=====selem=====
שלמ


'selem' appears to mean a financial reckoning which may include payment for goods and services or payment of an outstanding debt. Essentially, 'selem' means "pay".

It is often confused with [[selom]], meaning peace. The semantics are similar and related, but the spelling is distinct.

Or is it?

One can quickly tell by looking that the words are spelled differently: שלומ versus שלמ

However, when one drills into the spellings embedded in the Hebrew codex, it becomes apparent that the two spellings and meanings are not split one to one but rather there are many instances which are traditionally interchanged. Whereas the spelling indicates selem, a translation of "peace" is given.

Out of the 206 supposed instances of the word 'selom', 12 of them((Occurring in Genesis 37:4, Deuteronomy 23:6, 1 Samuel 16:4, 1 Kings 2:5, 1 Kings 2:6, 1 Kings 5:12, Ezra 9:12, Psalms 55:20, Jeremiah 15:5, Jeremiah 38:22, Ezekiel 13:16, Obadiah 1:7)) are actually the word 'selem' and the translation as "peace" is quite incorrect. In these cases the word is misidentified as 'selom' despite the spelling indicating 'selem'.

Additionally, there are cases((11 out of 102 instances: Job 5:23, Job 22:21, Joshua 10:1, Joshua 10:4, Joshua 11:19, 2 Samuel 10:19, 2 Samuel 20:19, 1 Kings 22:44, 1 Chronicles 19:19, Psalms 7:4, Proverbs 16:7))
 where the spelling is clearly 'selem' and the word is traditionally cataloged correctly as 'selem' (Strongnumber 7999) which means "pay", but inexplicably many Bible translations still translate it as "peace".

Granted, this mistake is less egregious, due to the semantic similarity of "making peace" with the act of settling up a payment. However, there is a subtle semantic shift in the motive of the subject character. If I am presented as making peace, there is an implication of pure and unselfish motives and a gracious nature. If on the other hand I am merely paying for a service already received there is hardly any reason to think me more good than basic decency demands. Failure to do so would make me a thief. Another subtle shift hides that fact that the subject is financial in nature.

Perhaps the prophet Jeremiah said it best: //‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.//((Jeremiah 6:14))

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LexID 7999