Peace In Christ Alone — the full text and how it actually lands when you sing it
The song most people are looking for goes by several titles. Sometimes it is listed as Peace In Christ Alone, sometimes as Peace Be Still, and occasionally it just appears under its first line, "My peace I leave with you." It comes straight from John 14:27 in the King James Bible, and the traditional hymn version adds a second verse that quotes Isaiah 26:3. That is basically the whole source material. The melody most people learn is the one composed by Thomas Hastings in 1824, originally paired with the hymn "O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing," but somebody later repurposed it for this text. Peace in Christ alone, my soul,
Do thou choose;
There the weary spirit finds a rest,
Which the world can never give;
Though the storm-winds rage without,
Still Thy perfect peace is here.
Keep me, Lord, in perfect peace,
For I trust in Thee alone. My peace 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.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on thee:
Because he trusteth in thee. Those last two stanzas are direct quotations from Scripture embedded in the hymn body. The first stanza is the paraphrase portion written by the hymn writer. Different publishers change the wording slightly, so you will see minor variants online, but the core is stable.
Where to find a clean lyric sheet
The most reliable source I keep coming back to is HymnTree. They list the full text, the meter, and the tune name so you can match it to sheet music. For sheet music with the original Hastings melody, the CPDL choral archive has a free public domain score. If you want a modern worship band arrangement, you will hit paywalls on sites like CCLI LyricFind, so stick to the public domain versions unless your church already has a license. I have used this text in a handful of contexts over the years, and the practical detail most people miss is the meter. The Hastings tune is 8.6.8.6 with a refrain feel, which means it sits comfortably at a moderate tempo but starts to drag if you push it slow. I once tried it at around 62 BPM for a Communion setting and the second verse felt like it was sinking. Dropping to 58 and letting the organ hold the pedal point fixed it. The text itself is not long, so the repetition of the Scripture block is necessary, not filler. The common pitfall is blending this with contemporary worship charts that assume a full band arrangement. The Hastings melody does not handle suspended guitars well. It wants a clear tonic-dominant pulse. If you are arranging it for a band, keep the chords plain and let the vocal carry the movement. A simple I-IV-V-I progression in D or E works fine. Adding secondary dominants or modal mixes muddy the line because the tune is strictly tonal and leans heavily on the subdominant in the B section.
Get the Full Details
One edge case I ran into: someone uploaded a video with the caption "Peace In Christ Lyrics" but the audio was actually a completely different song, a modern worship track with similar wording but a different melody and structure. If you are searching by that phrase, you will get mixed results. The traditional hymn and the contemporary songs are not the same piece. Check the first line of the lyrics before you commit to learning it. "My peace I leave with you" is the traditional text. Anything starting with "I will lift my eyes" or similar is a different song entirely.
What beginners get wrong about this one
People often try to sing it as a ballad with rubato timing. That breaks the phrasing. The hymn was written for congregational singing, which means steady meter matters more than emotional flexibility. You will lose the text if you drag the downbeats. Another thing: the double quotation of Scripture in the middle is not optional padding. It is the theological anchor. Skipping it or collapsing it into one line changes the shape of the whole piece. Keep both blocks separate.
Public domain status and licensing
The text itself is public domain in the United States and most other jurisdictions. The Hastings tune is also public domain. That means you can print it, arrange it, and record it without paying a royalty. The only catch is if you use a specific modern recording, those masters are copyrighted. Stick to your own performance or a public domain recording and you are clear.
Quick reference summary
Source: John 14:27 and Isaiah 26:3 (KJV)
Tune: Hastings, "Duke Street" (1824), 8.6.8.6
Key options: D or E for congregational singing
Tempo range: 60-72 BPM, don't go slower than 58
Best for: Communion, closing prayer, personal meditation
Reliable lyric source: hymntree.co.uk and cpdl.org
