Putting it lightly, the Bible has a lot to say about peace. In fact, in the King James translation, the English word “peace” appears about 470 times, making it one of the most used words in the entirety of the scriptures!
Words Translated as Peace
In the Old Testament, some of the usages of “peace” seem more trivial. For example, damam (דָּמַם), has (הָסָה), charash (חָרַשׁ), and chasnah (חָשָׁה) all mean “quiet” and are usually translated as “hold one’s peace” (Genesis 24:21, Exodus 14:14, Leviticus 10:3, Numbers 30:4, Judges 18:19, 1 Samuel 10:27, 2 Samuel 13:20, 2 Kings 18:36, Nehemiah 8:11, Job 11:3, Psalm 39:12, Proverbs 11:12, Isaiah 36:21, Zephaniah 1:7, etc). One interesting use, for example, is Esther 4:14 (ESV), when Mordecai is talking to Esther about the importance of approaching the king in order to save the Jews:
“If you remain silent [charash] at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
The root word shalah (שָׁלָה), meaning “tranquil” or “at ease,” and its forms are used a few times in the Old Testament to describe a peaceful land (1 Chronicles 4:40) and the act of an ambush—that is, striking during a peaceful time (Daniel 8:25 and 11:21-24).
“If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.”
Shalam (שָׁלַם), meaning “complete” or “sound,” accounts for the majority of the Old Testament usages of “peace.” The root shalam specifically refers to the concept of making amends, often translated as “to make peace with” (Joshua 10:1, 2 Samuel 10:19, 1 Kings 22:44, Job 5:23, Psalm 7:4, Proverbs 16:7, etc.). In Job, one of Job’s “friends,” Eliphaz, says that “the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you” if Job makes amends with God for the sin he’s sure to have committed for receiving such trouble. He says this again in 22:21 (ESV): “Agree with God and be at shalam,” suggesting a spiritual peace as well. Proverbs 16:7 (ESV) uses shalam to describe a social peace in response to righteousness:
“When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies be at peace with him.”
One form of shalam, shelem (שֶׁלֶם), specifically refers to a peace offering—that is, a specific type of sacrifice offered to God for alliance or friendship (Exodus 20:24, Leviticus 3:1, Numbers 6:14, Deuteronomy 27:7, Joshua 8:31, Judges 20:26, 1 Samuel 10:8, etc). Shelem is also sometimes used to refer to a partnership formed between people through a peace deal, as in Genesis 34 (specifically verse 21), when Hamor and his son Shechem agreed to be circumcised so that they could live together as one people with Jacob’s family, sharing livestock and resources and—the biggest goal—freely exchanging their women as wives.
Shalom as a Greeting of Peace
And, of course, the most familiar form of shalam is its noun form, shalom (שָׁלוֹם), as it was and is used as a common Jewish greeting:
- “Peace be to you” (Genesis 43:23, Judges 6:23, 1 Samuel 25:6, 1 Chronicles 12:18, Psalm 122:6-8, Isaiah 57:19, Jeremiah 43:12, Ezra 5:7, Daniel 10:19, etc.)
- “Come/Go in peace” (Genesis 15:15, Exodus 4:18, Judges 18:6; 1 Samuel 16:4-5, 2 Samuel 3:21-23, 1 Kings 2:13, 2 Kings 5:19, 2 Chronicles 18:16, etc.)
- “The Lord give you peace” (Numbers 6:26)
- “Is it peace?” (2 Kings 9:17-22), and so on.
The Jews would say “Shalom” to each other as a way of wishing or signaling peace between each other, and in fact even used the subsequent response as a litmus test for what would happen next, according to passages like Deuteronomy 20:10-12 and 1 Kings 20:18. If a person did not respond in peace, dire consequences could happen. But in fact, the practice of saying “Shalom” was used against the Hebrews, when God spoke through the prophets to chastise the Jews about their haphazard use of peace:
“They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.…We looked for peace, but no good came.” (Jeremiah 6:14 and 8:11-15, ESV)
“They have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace.…The prophets of Israel prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace.” (Ezekiel 13:10, 16, ESV)
“Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead people astray, who cry ‘Peace’ when they have something to eat but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths.” (Micah 3:5, ESV)
Bible verses about peace: “They have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace.”
Types of Peace in the Old Testament 
You might already be noticing a pattern. We can discern from the usages and descriptions of peace in the Old Testament three overlapping kinds of shalom: social, heavenly, and personal.
Social peace relates to the connections between people, as in a relaxed, trusting relationship that has no major strain (Genesis 37:4, Deuteronomy 2:26, Judges 4:17, 1 Samuel 7:14, 1 Kings 5:12, Psalm 28:3, Ecclesiastes 3:8, etc.).
“And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.” (1 Kings 5:12, ESV)
What I’m calling “heavenly peace” refers to the reconciliation and closeness with God (Numbers 25:12, 1 Kings 2:33, 1 Chronicles 22:9, Job 25:2, Psalm 29:11, Isaiah 26:12, Jeremiah 33:6, Ezekiel 37:26, Nahum 1:15, Haggai 2:9, Zechariah 8:16, Malachi 2:5-6, etc.).
“May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!” (Psalm 29:11, ESV)
It is the closeness in the relationship with God that then brings personal peace—a contentment that comes from knowing that, no matter what else happens in life, you are favored by the Creator (Leviticus 26:6, 1 Samuel 20:7, Psalm 4:8, Proverbs 3:2, Isaiah 39:8, Jeremiah 29:11, Lamentations 3:17, etc.). In fact, one of the most telling verses comes from Isaiah 48:18 and 22 (ESV):
“If you would heed my commands, your peace would be like a river,” but “there is no peace for the wicked.”
Bible verses about peace: “If you would heed my commands, your peace would be like a river,” but “there is no peace for the wicked.”
The peace God promises us is heavenly and personal—the knowledge of the possibility of salvation and closeness with God. But even though peace with God is meant to spill out into peacefulness with others, God never guarantees social peace this side of heaven. We live in a sinful, broken world. Just because we have the assurance of salvation does not mean we will have an easy life, and this was what was hard for the Israelites to understand—and in fact what is sometimes hard for us to even understand today.
In fact, several verses in the prophecies reference the coming of Jesus and the peace that He brings with salvation: Micah 5:5 references a man of peace coming out of Bethlehem, Zechariah 8:12 says the seed of Zion will sow peace (and 9:10 says He will speak peace to the nations), Isaiah 9:6-7 calls Him the Prince of Peace and says the increase of His rule and peace shall have no end, and Isaiah 53:5 says “upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace.”
