What Does the Bible Say About False Friends?

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV / 79 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Proverbs 27:6 ESV / 43 helpful votes

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

Matthew 5:30 ESV / 34 helpful votes

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 34 helpful votes

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...

1 John 4:1 ESV / 32 helpful votes

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Proverbs 27:5-6 ESV / 31 helpful votes

Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

Proverbs 17:17 ESV / 27 helpful votes

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

John 15:13 ESV / 26 helpful votes

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Proverbs 18:24 ESV / 25 helpful votes

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

Romans 12:15 ESV / 24 helpful votes

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

John 15:16 ESV / 24 helpful votes

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Proverbs 27:17 ESV / 22 helpful votes

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 16:28 ESV / 22 helpful votes

A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.

Proverbs 13:20 ESV / 21 helpful votes

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

Proverbs 20:19 ESV / 18 helpful votes

Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler.

Proverbs 12:26 ESV / 16 helpful votes

One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

Proverbs 27:9 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.

Proverbs 22:24-25 ESV / 14 helpful votes

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 3:32 ESV / 14 helpful votes

For the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence.

Revelation 21:8 ESV / 12 helpful votes

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

John 14:6 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 13:34 ESV / 12 helpful votes

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

1 John 4:1-21 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. ...

2 Timothy 3:13 ESV / 11 helpful votes

While evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

1 Corinthians 15:33-34 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

Revelation 1:1-20 ESV / 8 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ...

John 15:13-15 ESV / 8 helpful votes

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. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

Matthew 5:29-30 ESV / 7 helpful votes

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 ESV / 7 helpful votes

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 John 4:6 ESV / 6 helpful votes

We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Proverbs 20:6 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?

Romans 12:3 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

James 4:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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.

John 15:12-15 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“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. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

2 Kings 2:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

1 John 4:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

Ephesians 2:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

John 15:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

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!

Job 2:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.

1 John 3:7-8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Philippians 2:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

John 15:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

John 13:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 13:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,

Matthew 24:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.

48 Bible Verses about False Friends

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV / 79 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 27:6 ESV / 43 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:30 ESV / 34 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 34 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 4:1 ESV / 32 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 27:5-6 ESV / 31 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 17:17 ESV / 27 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 15:13 ESV / 26 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 18:24 ESV / 25 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:15 ESV / 24 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 15:16 ESV / 24 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 27:17 ESV / 22 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 16:28 ESV / 22 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 13:20 ESV / 21 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 20:19 ESV / 18 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 12:26 ESV / 16 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 27:9 ESV / 15 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 22:24-25 ESV / 14 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 3:32 ESV / 14 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 21:8 ESV / 12 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:6 ESV / 12 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 13:34 ESV / 12 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 4:1-21 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Timothy 3:13 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 15:33-34 ESV / 11 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 1:1-20 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 15:13-15 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:29-30 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 4:6 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 20:6 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:3 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 4:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 15:12-15 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Kings 2:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 4:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 4:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 2:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 15:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Job 2:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 3:7-8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 2:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 15:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 13:35 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 13:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 24:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Suggest a Verse

Enter a Verse Reference (e.g., John 3:16-17)