50 Bible verses and scriptures on peace
Grouped by what you came for · 50 verses · Updated August 2026
Biblical peace is not the absence of trouble. Almost every verse promising it was written by someone in the middle of some.
Jesus offers peace hours before his arrest, and takes care to distinguish it from the kind the world hands out. Paul writes about peace surpassing understanding from a prison cell. The Hebrew word behind most of the Old Testament instances, shalom, means wholeness and things being as they should be — which is broader than calm and harder to counterfeit.
Scripture also treats peace as several different things: peace with God, peace of mind, and peace between people. Those are not the same problem, so the fifty verses below are sorted accordingly.
Verses to pray for peace
Most of these are blessings — written to be said over someone else. They work equally well said over yourself.
“The LORD bless you, and keep you. The LORD make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. The LORD lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.”
The oldest blessing in continuous use, and peace is the last word of it. Everything before it builds to that.
“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.”
At all times in all ways — Paul is deliberately closing every gap. He does not want anyone reading an exception into it.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.”
In believing, not after understanding. The peace is described as arriving alongside trust rather than after evidence.
“LORD, you will ordain peace for us, for you have also done all our work for us.”
Ordain is a decisive word — appointed, settled. The reason given is that the work is already finished.
“The things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me: do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Two verses after the famous promise, and much less quoted. Paul attaches peace to practice, not only to prayer.
“The LORD will give strength to his people. The LORD will bless his people with peace.”
The last line of a psalm entirely about a thunderstorm. Both gifts are needed after noise.
Scriptures on the peace of God
What is on offer, and how it differs from the ordinary kind.
“In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.”
What is promised is peace, not an explanation. Surpasses understanding means it can arrive while the situation still makes no sense.
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.”
He is careful to distinguish the two kinds. Said hours before his arrest, to people about to lose everything they had built their lives around.
“In me you may have peace. In the world you have oppression; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.”
Both halves are stated plainly: peace here, trouble there. He does not offer one by denying the other.
“His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Peace is put in the title rather than the job description. It is presented as something he is, not only something he brings.
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body.”
Rule is a decision-making word — let it arbitrate. Paul is describing peace as something you consult, not just enjoy.
“For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition.”
He is our peace — a person rather than a state. The context is two groups who despised each other.
“My loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed.”
A covenant of peace — contractual language, deliberately. It is meant to sound less like a mood and more like a legal standing.
Bible verses for peace of mind
For a mind that will not settle. These address thinking directly rather than circumstances.
“You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you.”
The peace is something you are kept in rather than something you achieve — a location, not a mood. And the thing it rests on is named.
“For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.”
Paul treats peace as a by-product of what the mind is set on, not as a thing to pursue directly. Chasing calm rarely produces it.
“Whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely: think about these things.”
The practical companion to the promise a verse earlier. Paul does not say stop thinking — he says redirect it, and gives a list.
“In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul.”
The multitude of my thoughts is as good a description of a racing mind as exists. He does not claim the thoughts stopped.
“The life of the body is a heart at peace, but envy rots the bones.”
A physical claim. The proverb assumes what happens in the mind shows up in the body, which is not a modern discovery.
“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. You will find rest for your souls.”
Rest for your souls is more specific than rest. He is offering something that sleep does not provide.
“In peace I will both lay myself down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me live in safety.”
You alone — he has stopped attributing his safety to anything he arranged. That is often what makes sleep possible.
Verses for peace in anxiety and worry
Each of these gives you something to do rather than something to feel.
“Casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.”
The reason given is not that worry is useless. It is that he cares.
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
Closer to “stop striving” than to sitting quietly. The psalm is about God ending wars, so the stillness is that of someone who no longer has to fight.
“Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.”
Sufficient is a dry piece of realism. He is not saying today is fine — he is saying today is already enough to be getting on with.
“Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you.”
Sustain, not remove. The burden is transferred; the sustaining is what you feel.
“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.”
Two instructions follow the first, which is the point — the untroubling is not done by effort but by looking somewhere.
“In returning and rest you will be saved. In quietness and in confidence will be your strength.”
The next line records that they refused. Isaiah is honest that this is the least appealing option when you are frightened.
The fuller collection: Bible verses for anxiety and worry.
Scriptures on peace with God
The kind the New Testament treats as foundational — a settled standing rather than a feeling.
“Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Have, present tense, already. Paul treats this as a completed transaction rather than an aspiration.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Not a verse about peace by name, but the one most likely to produce it. A good deal of unrest is unresolved condemnation.
“Through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross.”
Made peace — an act with a cost, at a place and a time. This is the least sentimental verse on the page.
“The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.”
Written seven centuries before the event it describes. Peace and healing are named in the same breath and given the same cause.
“He came and preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near.”
Both groups get the same message. Distance from God is not treated as changing the terms of the offer.
“Mercy and truth meet together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”
Righteousness and peace are usually in tension — one demands, the other soothes. The image is of them reconciled.
Verses on making peace with others
The most practical group here, and the one with the most instructions attached.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”
Peacemakers, not the peaceful. The blessing is on the people who go and do something about a conflict.
“If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men.”
Two qualifications in one short sentence. Paul does not make reconciliation depend on you succeeding, which is a mercy.
“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
The most immediately usable verse in this collection. It is about the first sentence you say, not the argument you win.
“Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord.”
Follow after — pursue, chase. Peace is described as something you go towards rather than wait for.
“So then, let’s follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.”
Written in the middle of an argument about food. Paul’s test is not who is right but what builds people up.
“Being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Eager to keep, not to establish. The assumption is that unity already exists and the work is not losing it.
“Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
A farming image, so a slow one. James has just spent a chapter on what the tongue does; this is the alternative.
Related: Bible verses about forgiveness and verses about anger.
Psalms about peace
Written to be sung, mostly by people who had not yet got what they were asking for.
“Depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace, and pursue it.”
Two verbs where one would do. Seek and then pursue implies peace has a habit of moving.
“He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.”
Makes me lie down — sheep do not rest when uneasy, so the making is the point. Sometimes rest has to be imposed.
“I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother.”
Weaned is precise: a child no longer at the breast, content simply to be near. Not needing something is the picture of peace offered.
“Those who love your law have great peace. Nothing causes them to stumble.”
Peace connected to loving instruction rather than escaping it. An unfashionable claim, and worth sitting with.
“But the humble shall inherit the land, and shall delight themselves in abundant peace.”
The line Jesus quotes in the Beatitudes. Peace is attached to humility, which is not how most people would guess.
“I will hear what God, the LORD, will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, his saints.”
He will speak peace — it arrives as something said. Which suggests listening is a reasonable place to start.
Short verses on peace
Short enough to keep somewhere you will see them.
“He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace! Be still! The wind ceased and there was a great calm.”
Two words to a storm. Worth noting that he had been asleep in the boat during it, which the disciples found insulting.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith.”
Fruit grows; it is not manufactured. Peace is third on the list and produced by the same process as the rest.
“The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.”
Peace described as an outcome of doing right, on a delay. The word is work, which implies it takes a while.
“For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.”
Said while sorting out a chaotic church meeting. Useful when the confusion around you feels like it must be from God.
“For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace.”
Led out — the peace is an escort rather than a destination. Addressed to people who had been stuck a long time.
Carry one with you today
Fifty verses is too many to hold. If your trouble is a racing mind, take Isaiah 26:3 and notice what it says the peace rests on. If your trouble is a person, take Proverbs 15:1 and decide now what your first sentence will be.