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40 Encouraging Bible Verses about Friendship

40 Encouraging Bible Verses about Friendship

What does the Bible say about Friendship? What is a good friend according to scripture?

Good friendships are worth more than gold and can help us to endure with faith through difficult trials. However, friendships not bonded in faith for God can corrupt our hearts more than we know. As said in 1 Corinthians 15:33, "Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals." So it seems friendships can be as beneficial in our life as much as they can be destructive to our virtues. Therefore we must live with discernment and honesty regarding who we are friends with and time spent with others.

Nevertheless, we are called by God and His Holy Word to be loving to one another and treat others with kindness and humility. But this does not mean a necessity to spend time with those who would be a corrupting influence upon us. We can be honest in our rebuke of their actions while loving them as ourselves. The Bible tells us "Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy" in Proverbs 27:5-6. Find more encouraging and insightful Bible verses about friendship in this collection of scriptures quotes!

Here we have compiled 40 of the best scriptures about friendships to help guide you in being a friend and choosing them. May these friendship Bible verses provide revelation in your life!

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12 Old Testament Bible Verses about Friendship

Job 6:14,
“He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

Proverbs 12:26,
"One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray."

Proverbs 13:20,
"Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm."

Proverbs 16:28,
"A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends."

Proverbs 17:9,
"Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends."

Proverbs 17:17,
"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."

Proverbs 18:24,
"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."

Proverbs 22:24-25,
"Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare."

Proverbs 27:5-6,
"Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy."

Proverbs 27:9,
"Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel."

Proverbs 27:10,
"Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend, and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away."

Proverbs 27:17,
"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."

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12 New Testament Bible Verses about Friendship

12 New Testament Bible Verses about Friendship

John 15:13,
"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12,
"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

1 Corinthians 15:33,
"Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”"

1 Thessalonians 5:11,
"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."

Hebrews 10:24-25,
"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

1 Peter 4:8-10,
"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace"

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10,
"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!"

James 4:4,
"You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

Luke 6:31,
"And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them."

Romans 1:12,
"That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine."

John 15:12-14,
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you."

1 John 4:7,
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God."

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12 Bible Verses about Love in Friendships

12 Bible Verses about Love in Friendships

1 John 4:11,
"Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

Ephesians 4:32,
"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

1 John 4:8,
"Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."

1 John 4:7,
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God."

John 15:12,
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Matthew 22:37-39,
"And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

1 John 3:17,
"But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?"

Romans 13:10,
"Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

1 Peter 1:22,
"Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,"

1 John 4:16,
"So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."

1 Timothy 1:5,
"The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."

John 13:35,
"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

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4 Bible Verses about Friendship with God

James 2:23,
"And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God."

1 John 3:1,
"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him."

Galatians 2:20,
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Romans 8:37-39,
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

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