603 verses about Friendship

“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.

My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.

Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am an alien in their sight.

All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.

“Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was in my tent,

Also his wrath was kindled against his three friends, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

It was so, that after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.

Yahweh turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends. Yahweh gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Then came there to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that Yahweh had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, and everyone a ring of gold.

He who doesn’t slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor casts slurs against his fellow man;

The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.

I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother.

My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague. My kinsmen stand far away.

Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.

For it was not an enemy who insulted me, then I could have endured it. Neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me, then I would have hidden myself from him.

But it was you, a man like me, my companion, and my familiar friend.

We took sweet fellowship together. We walked in God’s house with company.

He raises his hands against his friends. He has violated his covenant.

You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape.

You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.

I am a friend of all those who fear you, of those who observe your precepts.

For my brothers’ and companions’ sakes, I will now say, “Peace be within you.”

See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity!

My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent.

who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God:

Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh, but his friendship is with the upright.

Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all wrongs.

A righteous person is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

The poor person is shunned even by his own neighbor, but the rich person has many friends.

A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends.

A man of violence entices his neighbor, and leads him in a way that is not good.

He who covers an offense promotes love; but he who repeats a matter separates best friends.

The beginning of strife is like breaching a dam, therefore stop contention before quarreling breaks out.

A friend loves at all times; and a brother is born for adversity.

An unfriendly man pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment.

A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city; and disputes are like the bars of a fortress.

A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Wealth adds many friends, but the poor is separated from his friend.

Many will entreat the favor of a ruler, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts.

All the relatives of the poor shun him: how much more do his friends avoid him! He pursues them with pleas, but they are gone.

It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife; but every fool will be quarreling.

He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets; therefore don’t keep company with him who opens wide his lips.

He who loves purity of heart and speaks gracefully is the king’s friend.

Don’t befriend a hot-tempered man, and don’t associate with one who harbors anger:

lest you learn his ways, and ensnare your soul.

Debate your case with your neighbor, and don’t betray the confidence of another;

Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house, lest he be weary of you, and hate you.

Confidence in someone unfaithful in time of trouble is like a bad tooth, or a lame foot.

is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “Am I not joking?”

Better is open rebuke than hidden love.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man’s friend.

Don’t forsake your friend and your father’s friend. Don’t go to your brother’s house in the day of your disaster: better is a neighbor who is near than a distant brother.

Take his garment when he puts up collateral for a stranger. Hold it for a wayward woman!

Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance.

One who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than one who flatters with the tongue.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up.

Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one keep warm alone?

If a man prevails against one who is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Take me away with you. Let us hurry. The king has brought me into his rooms. Friends We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will praise your love more than wine! Beloved They are right to love you.

I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Friends Eat, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved. Beloved

His mouth is sweetness; yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.

I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires. Friends

You who dwell in the gardens, with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice! Beloved

Everyone helps his neighbor. They say to their brothers, “Be strong!”

“But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend,

Therefore Yahweh says, “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together will stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend will perish.”

For even your brothers, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you! Even they have cried aloud after you! Don’t believe them, though they speak beautiful words to you.

What will you say, when he sets over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? Won’t sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?

For Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon, and will kill them with the sword.

For I have heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.”

So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.

‘Behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house will be brought out to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women will say, “Your familiar friends have turned on you, and have prevailed over you. Your feet are sunk in the mire, they have turned away from you.”

Now when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, then they were glad.

She weeps bitterly in the night. Her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies.

The old men of Gebal and its wise men were your repairers of ship seams in you. All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to deal in your merchandise.

Then Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:

Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel was in the king’s gate.

Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they delivered up the whole community to Edom, and didn’t remember the brotherly covenant;

All the men of your alliance have brought you on your way, even to the border. The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. Friends who eat your bread lay a snare under you. There is no understanding in him.”

Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!

In that day,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’”

One will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’

The angel said to him, “I will go with you. I know the way well. I have lodged with our brother Gabael.”

So he called him, and he came in, and they saluted one another.

and Edna his wife and Sarah his daughter wept. They received them gladly; and they killed a ram of the flock, and served them meat. But Tobias said to Raphael, “Brother Azarias, speak of those things of which you talked about in the way, and let the matter be finished.”

Achiacharus and Nasbas his brother’s son came.

In the third year of his reign, he made a feast for his friends, and the other nations, and for the nobles of the Persians and Medes, and the chief of the satraps.

The king made a banquet for all his friends and great men for seven days, and he highly celebrated the marriage of Esther; and he granted a remission of taxes to those who were under his dominion.

And having gone into his own house, he called his friends, and his wife Zeresh.

And Zeresh his wife and his friends said to him, Let there be a gallows made for you of fifty cubits, and in the morning do you speak to the king, and let Mordecai be hanged on the gallows: but do you go in to the feast with the king, and be merry. And the saying pleased Haman, and the gallows was prepared.

and let him give it to one of the king’s noble friends, and let him array the man whom the king loves; and let him mount him on the horse, and proclaim through the street of the city, saying, Thus shall it be done to every man whom the king honors.

And Haman related the events that had befallen him to Zeresh his wife, and to his friends: and his friends and his wife said to him, If Mordecai be of the race of the Jews, and you have begun to be humbled before him, you will assuredly fall, and you will not be able to withstand him, for the living God is with him.

for on these days the Jews obtained rest from their enemies; and as to the month, which was Adar, in which a change was made for them, from mourning to joy, and from sorrow to a good day, to spend the whole of it in good days of feasting and gladness, sending portions to their friends, and to the poor.

For she is to men a treasure that fails not, And those who use it obtain friendship with God, Commended to him by the gifts which they through discipline present to him.