What Does the Bible Say About True Friends?

Proverbs 18:24 ESV / 81 helpful votes

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

John 15:13 ESV / 58 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 27:5-6 ESV / 34 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 16:28 ESV / 32 helpful votes

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

1 John 4:1 ESV / 22 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 27:17-27 ESV / 20 helpful votes

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored. As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man. Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man. The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by his praise. ...

Proverbs 20:6 ESV / 14 helpful votes

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

Hebrews 2:14 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

1 Corinthians 14:33 ESV / 6 helpful votes

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

Romans 12:2 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Luke 21:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death.

Proverbs 15:22 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.

Proverbs 11:14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

1 Corinthians 11:1-34 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. ...

John 19:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus,

Mark 13:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them.

Proverbs 17:17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

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

Genesis 2:7 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Revelation 22:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Revelation 11:3 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

Philippians 1:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

John 14:6 ESV / 3 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 8:58 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Ezekiel 18:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Psalm 20:1-9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion! May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans! May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions! ...

Revelation 11:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

Hebrews 12:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

1 Corinthians 15:52 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

John 1:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Ezekiel 18:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

Jeremiah 5:30-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?

Psalm 82:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;

Revelation 17:8 ESV / 1 helpful vote

The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.

Revelation 13:8 ESV / 1 helpful vote

And all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

Revelation 13:1-18 ESV / 1 helpful vote

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. ...

John 8:44 ESV / 1 helpful vote

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Luke 12:40 ESV / 1 helpful vote

You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

38 Bible Verses about True Friends