Bible Encyclopedias
Salutation

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature

Fig. 306—Salam Greeting

The forms of salutation that prevailed among the Hebrews, so far as can be collected from Scripture, are the following:—

1. 'Blessed be thou of the Lord,' or equivalent phrases.

2. 'The Lord be with thee.'

3. 'Peace be unto thee,' or 'upon thee,' or 'with thee.' In countries often ravaged, and among people often ruined by war, 'peace' implied every blessing of life; and this phrase had therefore the force of 'Prosperous be thou.' This was the commonest of all salutations (;;;; ).

4. 'Live, my lord,' was a common salutation among the Phoenicians, and was also in use among the Hebrews, but was by them only addressed to their kings in the extended form of 'Let the king live forever!' (); which was also employed in the Babylonian and