PEACE — but far wider than the absence of conflict: wholeness, soundness, welfare, everything being as it should be. You ask after a person's shalom the way English asks 'how are you?'. It runs through the Joseph story as a thread of withholding and return. The brothers 'could not speak to him in SHALOM' (37:4); their father then sent him on the errand that got him sold — 'go, see whether your brothers are at SHALOM' (37:14). The word then disappears for six chapters, until Joseph promises Pharaoh 'God will answer for Pharaoh's SHALOM' (41:16) — and returns in force in ch. 43, where an Egyptian steward greets the terrified brothers with 'SHALOM to you, do not be afraid' (43:23) and Joseph asks three times after their father's shalom (43:27-28). The men who could not say the word are asked it, in Egypt, by the brother they sold. → first discussed at Gen 37:4