Fourteen verses on peace: a quiet mind, comfort after trouble, peace between people and peace for a place.
Peace in the psalms is wider than a calm mood. It is a soul told to return to its rest, still waters, a city with safe walls, and people living together in unity. Some psalms say peace is given: the LORD will bless his people with peace. Others say it has to be chased: seek peace, and pursue it. One writer admits he is for peace while the people around him are for war.
The page starts with peace of mind, moves to comfort after trouble, then to peace with other people and peace for a city or country. Tick the verses you want and print them. For worry that keeps you awake, the anxiety and sleep pages go further.
Short verses about a quiet mind.
Those who love your law have great peace.Nothing causes them to stumble.
Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
Those who love your law have great peace. Nothing causes them to stumble. In the King James Version: great peace have they which love thy law.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.He leads me beside still waters.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Green pastures and still waters. The shepherd makes the sheep lie down, so the rest is given rather than achieved.
Return to your rest, my soul,for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
Return to your rest, my soul. The writer speaks to his own soul, and the reason is in the same verse: the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
“Be still, and know that I am God.I will be exalted among the nations.I will be exalted on the earth.”
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
Be still, and know that I am God. In Psalm 46 the stillness comes after God makes wars cease and breaks the bow (verse 9).
For peace that comes after trouble, not before it.
Increase my honorand comfort me again.
Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.
Comfort me again. The word again matters: the verse before speaks of many and bitter troubles, and of being brought up from the depths.
He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me,although there are many who oppose me.
He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me.
He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me. This is peace in the middle of opposition: there are many who oppose me.
The LORD will give strength to his people.The LORD will bless his people with peace.
The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.
The LORD will bless his people with peace. It is the last line of a psalm full of thunder, lightning and breaking cedars, so the peace comes after the storm.
For family rifts, workplaces and neighbours. The psalms treat this kind of peace as work.
Depart from evil, and do good.Seek peace, and pursue it.
Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
Seek peace, and pursue it. Two verbs, both active. The verse before adds keeping the tongue from evil.
I am for peace,but when I speak, they are for war.
I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.
I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. An honest verse for anyone who has tried to make peace and been refused.
See how good and how pleasant it isfor brothers to live together in unity!
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity. The psalm compares it to oil running down Aaron's beard and dew on the hills of Zion.
Mark the perfect man, and see the upright,for there is a future for the man of peace.
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.
There is a future for the man of peace. The King James Version reads: the end of that man is peace.
Psalms that ask for peace in a place, within its walls and borders.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.Those who love you will prosper.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. The next verses spell it out: peace within your walls, and for my brothers' and companions' sakes, peace be within you.
He makes peace in your borders.He fills you with the finest of the wheat.
He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.
He makes peace in your borders. In this psalm peace is practical: safe borders, and the finest of the wheat.
Mercy and truth meet together.Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. The psalm pictures peace arriving together with mercy, truth and righteousness, not on its own.
Beyond the verses above, peace appears in Psalm 4:8, in peace I will both lay myself down and sleep; Psalm 37:11, the humble delighting in the abundance of peace; Psalm 85:8, God speaking peace to his people; and Psalm 125:5 and 128:6, which both end with a blessing of peace on Israel.
Psalm 131 is three verses long and describes a soul stilled and quieted like a weaned child. Psalm 4:8 and Psalm 119:165 are short single verses that name peace directly.
Psalm 46:10. The heading of Psalm 46 attributes it to the sons of Korah.
Psalm 119:165 in the King James Version. The World English Bible reads: those who love your law have great peace.
Psalm 23 has both: still waters and a restored soul, then a rod and staff that comfort. Psalm 71:21 asks directly: comfort me again.
Psalm 34:14: depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace, and pursue it.
Psalms for Anxiety, Worry and StressPsalms for Comfort and StrengthPsalms for Sleep and Night PrayerPsalms for PatiencePsalms for AngerPsalms for Justice