# ma shlomkha (מַה שְׁלוֹמְךָ)

pronounced: ma shlom-KHA


**“How are you?” — literally “how is your shalom?”; even Hebrew small talk asks after a person's wholeness**

## In Scripture

> He said to them, “Is it well with him?”   They said, “It is well. See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep.”
> — Genesis 29:6 (The Hebrew question uses shalom to ask about a person’s welfare, the pattern behind ma shlomkha.)

> He asked them of their welfare, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?”
> — Genesis 43:27 (Joseph asks after his father’s shalom—his welfare and wholeness.)


## How to read this entry

The definition comes from the IsraelForYou lexicon. Scripture quotations and their translation are named below; later tradition or modern usage is identified when it appears.


https://israelforyou.com/hebrew/ma-shlomkha/