17 Bible verses about peace
The peace God gives, the peace he makes with us, and the peace he asks us to make, each with a few lines on how to pray it.
The MySavior teamUpdated · 10 min read
You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.
Isaiah 26:3 · BSB
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.
John 14:27 · BSB
The Bible verses about peace that people reach for most are John 14:27, where Jesus says “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you,” Philippians 4:7, on “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,” and Isaiah 26:3, with its promise of “perfect peace.” Read side by side, they say something easy to miss: in Scripture, peace is first a gift God gives, and only after that a calm we feel.
The Hebrew word behind most of the Old Testament verses is shalom, and it is a much bigger word than quiet: wholeness, welfare, things being as they should be with God, with other people and inside your own chest. So the passages below move in three steps: the peace God gives, the peace he has made with us in Christ, and the peace we are sent out to make.
All seventeen are quoted from the Berean Standard Bible. Read slowly. If one stops you, stay with it and let the others wait for another day.
The peace Jesus leaves behind
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.
John 14:27 · BSB
Jesus says this at the Last Supper, in the language of someone making a will: “Peace I leave with you.” Within hours his friends would scatter, and what he hands down to them is not a plan or a guarantee but his own peace. The world gives peace when things go well and takes it back when they don’t. His comes first, and the two commands follow from it: do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.
Peace, said twice
Isaiah 26:3
You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.
Isaiah 26:3 · BSB
In Hebrew, “perfect peace” is simply the word said twice: shalom shalom. Isaiah puts it in a song about a strong city, and the strength turns out to be trust. A steadfast mind is not an empty one. It is a mind that keeps leaning its weight on God, the way you lean on a railing you know will hold.
When it makes no sense to be calm
Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7 · BSB
Paul writes this in chains, not knowing whether he will be released or put to death. “Surpasses all understanding” is honest: this peace will not always make sense, even to you. And “guard” is a soldier’s word, the kind of guard Paul saw every day. God’s peace stands watch over the heart and the mind, the two doors worry likes to come in by.
When you will not stop on your own
Psalm 23:2
He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
Psalm 23:2 · BSB
The shepherd makes the sheep lie down, a gentle way of admitting that, left to ourselves, we would keep going. The Hebrew behind “quiet waters” is literally waters of rest. Some days peace looks like being led, a little against your will, to sit down.
The name he is given
Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 · BSB
Isaiah spoke this to a small kingdom frightened by the armies of Assyria, and the answer he gave was a child. Of the four names, the last is the one the Church has sung most: Prince of Peace. If you know Handel’s Messiah, you have heard this verse set to music, and every Advent and Christmas it comes round again.
Peace with God before peace of mind
From Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
From Romans 5:1 · BSB
This is peace of another kind: not a feeling but a fact, like a treaty signed. After four chapters on sin and on being made right with God by faith, Paul draws the conclusion: through Jesus, the war between us and God is over. On a day when you feel anything but peaceful, this one is still true.
When there is a wall between people
Ephesians 2:14
For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has torn down the dividing wall of hostility
Ephesians 2:14 · BSB
In Paul’s day a stone barrier in the Jerusalem temple kept non-Jews out of the inner courts; one of its Greek warning signs, found in 1871 and now in Istanbul, threatens death to any foreigner who goes past. Many readers hear that wall behind this verse. Christ himself is our peace, and the hostility between people who were never expected to share a table is over.
When you are hiding
From John 20:19
Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you!” He said to them.
From John 20:19 · BSB
It is the evening of the first Easter, and the disciples are behind locked doors, afraid. Most of them had run away three days earlier. Jesus does not open with a rebuke. He says “Peace be with you,” shows them his hands and his side, and then says it again.
When the trouble is real
From John 16:33
I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!
From John 16:33 · BSB
These are the closing words of Jesus’ long talk with his friends at the supper, and they are not naïve. “In the world you will have tribulation” is as plain a promise as the other one. Notice where the peace is found: “in Me,” not in the world finally settling down. And the reason to take courage is already in the past tense: I have overcome.
When everything solid is moving
From Isaiah 54:10
Though the mountains may be removed and the hills may be shaken, My loving devotion will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be broken
From Isaiah 54:10 · BSB
Just before this, God compares his promise to the oath he swore after the flood, that the waters would never again cover the earth. Here he goes further: picture the mountains themselves moving, and his covenant of peace still standing. When the things you took for permanent start to shift, a job, a marriage, your health, this is the ground under the ground.
A blessing for the whole day
From 2 Thessalonians 3:16
Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way.
From 2 Thessalonians 3:16 (BSB)
These are nearly the last words of the letter; in the next verse Paul takes the pen to sign it in his own hand. Look at the reach of it: at all times and in every way, not the commute, not the hospital corridor, not the argument still running in your head. It is short enough to be the first thing you read when you wake your phone.
Sunday, November 8
9:41
Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way.
From 2 Thessalonians 3:16 · BSBTurn this verse into your Lock Screen wallpaperWrite it over a photograph in MySavior’s wallpaper maker and save it to Photos at the size of your iPhone’s screen.
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When you have a decision to make
Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for to this you were called as members of one body. And be thankful.
Colossians 3:15 · BSB
The Greek verb behind “rule” comes from the games: it means to act as umpire. Let Christ’s peace make the call when your heart is divided, or when a church or a family is about to split over something. Paul ties it straight to belonging to one body, then adds three small words that are easy to skip: “And be thankful.”
The ones who make it
Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Matthew 5:9 · BSB
Jesus does not bless the peaceful here but the peacemakers: people who walk into the middle of a quarrel and do the slow work of mending it. They are called sons of God because they take after their Father, who made peace with us while we were still far from him.
When it is not all up to you
Romans 12:18
If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone.
Romans 12:18 · BSB
There is real mercy in Paul’s wording. “If it is possible” admits that sometimes it is not, and “on your part” tells you which half is yours. Do your half fully, the apology, the phone call, the refusal to keep score, and leave the other half with God.
When peace keeps slipping away
Psalm 34:14
Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
Psalm 34:14 · BSB
The heading of this psalm sets it after a narrow escape, when David pretended to be insane before a king so that he would be driven away. Seek peace, pursue it: these are the verbs of someone who has been in danger and knows what calm is worth. Peter quotes the line in his first letter (1 Peter 3:11).
When keeping the peace means keeping quiet
Psalm 85:10
Loving devotion and faithfulness have joined together; righteousness and peace have kissed.
Psalm 85:10 · BSB
Four virtues greet each other here like old friends. We often set righteousness and peace against each other, as if you had to choose between keeping the peace and doing what is right. Here they kiss. God’s peace never asks you to pretend that a wrong is fine; it arrives with things being put right.
The oldest blessing
Numbers 6:24–26
‘May the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the LORD lift up His countenance toward you and give you peace.’
Numbers 6:24–26 · BSB
God gave these words to Aaron and his sons to say over the people, and peace is the last word, where everything else was heading. In 1979, two tiny silver scrolls were found in a burial cave just outside Jerusalem’s Old City, dated to around 600 BC and inscribed with a version of this blessing. They are among the oldest known texts from the Hebrew Bible, and someone once wore them as amulets, close to the body.
A small practice for this week
Choose the verse you need most, not the one you like best, and write it out by hand once, slowly. Then make it your iPhone wallpaper with MySavior’s wallpaper maker: type the words over a calm photograph or one of the app’s themes, save it, and set it as your Lock Screen. This week, read it every time you pick up the phone, before you open anything else.
If you would rather find a different word of peace waiting through the day, add MySavior’s Bible Verse widget to your Home Screen and include the Deep Peace topic in the Widget Studio. It changes its text by itself, on the schedule you pick.
Keep a word of peace where your eyes already go
Add the Deep Peace topic to MySavior’s Bible Verse widget, and short texts of peace turn up on your Home Screen, changing by themselves on the schedule you pick.
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Questions
What does the Bible say about peace?
That real peace comes from God and begins as peace with God through Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). Jesus calls it his own gift (John 14:27), Paul says it guards the heart and mind (Philippians 4:7), and believers are sent out to make peace with others (Matthew 5:9; Romans 12:18).
What is the most famous Bible verse about peace?
John 14:27 is probably the most quoted: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.” Philippians 4:7, Isaiah 26:3 and the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24–26, which ends “and give you peace,” are close behind.
What does shalom mean in the Bible?
Shalom is the Hebrew word usually translated “peace,” and it means more than the absence of conflict: wholeness, welfare, a life or a community that is as it should be. Isaiah 26:3 doubles it for emphasis, which English renders as “perfect peace.”
Which Bible translation is quoted here?
Every verse in this article is quoted from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB).
How can I see a verse about peace every time I pick up my iPhone?
Make it your Lock Screen wallpaper with MySavior’s wallpaper maker: write any text, such as Isaiah 26:3, over a photograph or one of the app’s themes, save it to Photos at the size of your iPhone’s screen, then choose it as your wallpaper in iOS. For short texts that change by themselves, add the Bible Verse widget to your Home Screen with the Deep Peace topic included (how to add a widget).
