Bible Verses About Friendship

“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

A proverb about the friend who loves at all times.

“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”

A friend who sticks closer than a brother.

“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”

Iron sharpening iron: friends make each other better.

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”

Honest correction from a friend is worth more than flattery.

“Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.”

Good counsel from a friend compared to perfume.

“Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.”

Keep old friendships, including family friends.

“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.”

The start of a short passage on why two are better than one.

“For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.”

One lifts the other up after a fall.

“And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

The threefold cord, often read at weddings.

“He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.”

On covering an offence rather than repeating it.

“A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.”

A warning about gossip that separates close friends.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Jesus speaks of laying down his life for his friends.

“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”

Spoken to the disciples on the night before the crucifixion.

“Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”

Jesus explains why he calls them friends and not servants.

“And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.”

James recalls that Abraham was called the Friend of God.

“And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.”

How the LORD spoke with Moses in the tabernacle.

“And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”

The beginning of David and Jonathan's friendship.

“Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.”

They make a covenant of friendship.

“I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.”

David's lament after Jonathan's death in battle.

“And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:”

Ruth refuses to leave her widowed mother-in-law Naomi.

“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.”

Job's three friends come to mourn with him and comfort him.

“So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.”

Before they spoke, they sat with him in silence for seven days.

“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

The company you keep shapes who you become.

“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.”

Paul quotes a well-known saying of his day.

“Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:”

Advice about friendship with someone given to anger.

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”

A short Song of degrees about living together in unity.

“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;”

Brotherly love and honouring one another.

“Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”

Sharing both joy and sorrow.

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”

Carrying one another's burdens.

“Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.”

Building one another up.