Daily BreadBible verses about
Bible Verses About Peace
Peace is a word that has to work too hard. It covers the end of a war, a quiet mind, and not arguing with your brother-in-law — and Scripture uses it for all three without always signalling which.
Sorting them out helps, because they behave differently. One is settled and does not depend on you. One has conditions attached. One is explicitly admitted to be outside your control.
Twelve passages below, covering all three.
12 verses for when you need them
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1 ESVTherefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Romans 5:1 KJVThe foundational one, and it is not about how a man feels. This is peace as the end of hostilities — a settled state between two parties, established by someone else. Everything else on this page sits downstream of it.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
John 14:27 ESVPeace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27 KJVSaid hours before his arrest, to men about to lose everything they had built their lives around. The qualifier — not as the world gives — rules out the version that depends on circumstances holding, because his plainly were not.
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6 ESVBe careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Philippians 4:6 KJVThe KJV's “be careful for nothing” means full of care, not careless — worth knowing before the verse reads as an instruction to stop taking things seriously. What follows is a transfer: the anxiety is meant to go somewhere specific.
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
Isaiah 26:3 ESVThou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Isaiah 26:3 KJVStayed is a load-bearing word — propped, fixed, held in place. The peace is described as maintained rather than achieved, and the condition is where the attention rests, which is a thing a man can actually adjust.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Colossians 3:15 ESVAnd let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Colossians 3:15 KJVRule means to arbitrate — to act as umpire on a contested call. Paul is describing peace as a decision-making function, not a mood, and the context is a community that has to get along.
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
Romans 12:18 ESVIf it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Romans 12:18 KJVTwo qualifiers in one short verse, and both are honest. Paul concedes it may not be possible and that the other party has a vote. The obligation stops at your own conduct — which is either a relief or a challenge depending on which side you are on.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Matthew 5:9 ESVBlessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Matthew 5:9 KJVMakers, not keepers. The distinction matters: keeping the peace can mean avoiding the conversation, while making it means going into the conflict on purpose. Only one of those is blessed here.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8 ESVI will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8 KJVThe most practical test on the page. Whatever a man says he believes during the day, what happens at 2am is the honest reading — and David ties the sleep directly to who is keeping watch.
When a man's ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Proverbs 16:7 ESVWhen a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
Proverbs 16:7 KJVA proverb, which is a general observation rather than a guarantee — Scripture is full of righteous men with committed enemies. What it does say is that a man's own conduct affects more of his conflicts than he tends to think.
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.
2 Thessalonians 3:16 ESVNow the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.
2 Thessalonians 3:16 KJVA prayer rather than a promise, and worth noticing as such. Paul asks for it — at all times, in every way — which implies it is not automatic even for the people he is writing to.
May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!
Psalm 29:11 ESVThe LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.
Psalm 29:11 KJVStrength and peace named together, at the end of a psalm about a storm powerful enough to break trees. The two are not alternatives — the same God is behind both, which is the psalm's whole point.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 ESVFor unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 KJVThe two columns punctuate the titles differently — KJV separates Wonderful and Counsellor, ESV joins them. Either way, note where the government sits: on his shoulder. The peace in view is the kind that comes with someone else carrying the weight.
Three different things get called peace here and it is worth keeping them apart.
There is peace with God — Romans 5:1, a settled state, established once and not dependent on how you feel about it this morning. There is the peace of God — Philippians and Isaiah, a felt steadiness with conditions attached about where your attention rests. And there is peace with people, which Romans 12:18 admits may not be achievable and limits to your own conduct.
Most men come looking for the second. It is the one Scripture treats as the least guaranteed and the most conditional — Paul prays for it rather than promising it.
The first is the one that does not move. And Psalm 4:8 is the honest test of whether any of it has landed: what happens when you lie down.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version, which is in the public domain. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.