603 verses about Friendship

But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David’s brother; and Jonadab was a very subtle man.

Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why do you also go with us? Return, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile. Return to your own place.

Whereas you came but yesterday, should I today make you go up and down with us, since I go where I may? Return, and take back your brothers. Mercy and truth be with you.”

David said to him, “If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me;

So Hushai, David’s friend, came into the city; and Absalom came into Jerusalem.

When Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, had come to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your kindness to your friend? Why didn’t you go with your friend?”

Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En Rogel; and a female servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David. For they might not be seen to come into the city.

When David had come to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,

in that you love those who hate you, and hate those who love you. For you have declared today, that princes and servants are nothing to you. For today I perceive that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died today, then it would have pleased you well.

When he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why didn’t you go with me, Mephibosheth?”

Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim; and he went over the Jordan with the king, to conduct him over the Jordan.

Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old. He had provided the king with sustenance while he stayed at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man.

The king said to Barzillai, “Come over with me, and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem.”

Barzillai said to the king, “How many are the days of the years of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

The king answered, “Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good to you. Whatever you request of me, that I will do for you.”

One of Joab’s young men stood by him, and said, “He who favors Joab, and he who is for David, let him follow Joab!”

But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Yahweh’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

Three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,

While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came; and Adonijah said, “Come in; for you are a worthy man, and bring good news.”

But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; Zabud the son of Nathan was chief minister, the king’s friend;

Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the place of his father, and Hiram had always loved David.

Yahweh gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together.

Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me to Jericho.” He said, “As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho.

Elijah said to him, “Please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me to the Jordan.” He said, “As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” Then they both went on.

He went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab to battle?” He said, “I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

When he had departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. He greeted him, and said to him, “Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?” Jehonadab answered, “It is.” “If it is, give me your hand.” He gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.

Now these are those who came to David to Ziklag, while he was a fugitive from Saul the son of Kish. They were among the mighty men, his helpers in war.

Some of the children of Benjamin and Judah came to the stronghold to David.

David went out to meet them, and answered them, “If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if you have come to betray me to my adversaries, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers see this and rebuke it.”

As he went to Ziklag, some from Manasseh joined him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, captains of thousands who were of Manasseh.

For from day to day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army, like God’s army.

David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. David’s servants came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him.

He said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you are to help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you.

Ahithophel was the king’s counselor: and Hushai the Archite was the king’s friend.

Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, “As you dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build him a house in which to dwell, so deal with me.

But he abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.

Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance; and he allied himself with Ahab.

After some years, he went down to Ahab to Samaria. Ahab killed sheep and cattle for him in abundance, and for the people who were with him, and moved him to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead.

Didn’t you, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it to the offspring of Abraham your friend forever?

Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them.

Nevertheless Haman restrained himself, and went home. There, he sent and called for his friends and Zeresh his wife.

Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on it. Then go in merrily with the king to the banquet.” This pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.

Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him, but you will surely fall before him.”

Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, a good day, and a day of sending presents of food to one another.

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him.

When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.

So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;

Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.

My friends scoff at me. My eyes pour out tears to God,

He who denounces his friends for plunder, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.

“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.