100 Bible Verses about Friends With Unbelievers

2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV / 175 helpful votes

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV / 112 helpful votes

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

1 John 2:15 ESV / 91 helpful votes

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Psalm 1:1-6 ESV / 80 helpful votes

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; ...

Proverbs 13:20 ESV / 79 helpful votes

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

James 4:4 ESV / 75 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.

Matthew 7:6 ESV / 70 helpful votes

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

John 15:18-19 ESV / 66 helpful votes

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 63 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.

Matthew 10:14 ESV / 59 helpful votes

And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.

Proverbs 27:17 ESV / 47 helpful votes

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Colossians 3:5 ESV / 44 helpful votes

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Proverbs 27:9 ESV / 39 helpful votes

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

1 Peter 2:15-16 ESV / 38 helpful votes

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

1 John 1:7 ESV / 36 helpful votes

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Proverbs 22:24-25 ESV / 34 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.

Galatians 5:13 ESV / 33 helpful votes

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Joshua 23:12-13 ESV / 31 helpful votes

For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.

Proverbs 12:26 ESV / 28 helpful votes

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

2 John 1:10-11 ESV / 27 helpful votes

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

John 3:16 ESV / 20 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Matthew 7:12 ESV / 20 helpful votes

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Proverbs 17:9 ESV / 20 helpful votes

Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

Exodus 34:16 ESV / 19 helpful votes

And you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.

Colossians 4:5-6 ESV / 18 helpful votes

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Luke 12:2 ESV / 18 helpful votes

Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

Matthew 5:16 ESV / 18 helpful votes

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Proverbs 3:5 ESV / 18 helpful votes

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Leviticus 18:1-30 ESV / 18 helpful votes

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord. ...

John 15:13 ESV / 17 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 18:24 ESV / 17 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 16:28 ESV / 17 helpful votes

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

1 Corinthians 10:27 ESV / 16 helpful votes

If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.

Proverbs 17:17 ESV / 16 helpful votes

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

2 Timothy 2:24-26 ESV / 15 helpful votes

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

John 14:6 ESV / 15 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 3:16-17 ESV / 15 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Jeremiah 17:5-8 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Exodus 34:12 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

John 15:12-15 ESV / 14 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.

Proverbs 24:5 ESV / 14 helpful votes

A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might,

2 John 1:7-11 ESV / 13 helpful votes

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

2 Timothy 3:1-3 ESV / 13 helpful votes

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

1 Corinthians 5:11 ESV / 13 helpful votes

But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

Amos 3:3 ESV / 13 helpful votes

“Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?

Proverbs 19:20 ESV / 13 helpful votes

Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 12 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,

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Luke 6:31 ESV / 12 helpful votes

And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

Proverbs 14:6-7 ESV / 12 helpful votes

A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain, but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding. Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge.

Job 2:11 ESV / 12 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.

Luke 12:46 ESV / 11 helpful votes

The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.

Matthew 22:37 ESV / 11 helpful votes

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.

2 Kings 2:2 ESV / 11 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.

Colossians 3:12-14 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

1 Corinthians 6:2-5 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers,

Luke 1:37 ESV / 10 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Proverbs 27:5-6 ESV / 10 helpful votes

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

1 Peter 3:15 ESV / 9 helpful votes

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

James 5:16 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Philippians 4:13 ESV / 9 helpful votes

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Proverbs 15:22 ESV / 9 helpful votes

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

1 Kings 11:1-3 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.

Revelation 3:20 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

1 John 4:8 ESV / 8 helpful votes

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

2 Peter 3:9 ESV / 8 helpful votes

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

1 Peter 2:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

Hebrews 11:1 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

2 Corinthians 4:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV / 8 helpful votes

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Isaiah 53:1-12 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. ...

1 Corinthians 3:18 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

Romans 6:6-23 ESV / 7 helpful votes

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ...

John 10:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

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.

Proverbs 20:6 ESV / 7 helpful votes

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

Job 16:20 ESV / 7 helpful votes

My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God,

James 4:8 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

James 3:13 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

Hebrews 11:1-40 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. ...

Philippians 3:1-21 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; ...

2 Corinthians 3:3 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Romans 5:10 ESV / 6 helpful votes

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Romans 1:16 ESV / 6 helpful votes

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

John 15:15 ESV / 6 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.

Matthew 21:22 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Matthew 6:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

1 Samuel 20:17 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

Deuteronomy 25:19 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.

Numbers 33:55-56 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”

James 1:25 ESV / 5 helpful votes

But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Colossians 3:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Ephesians 5:15-17 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Romans 1:24 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,

John 4:20 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

Isaiah 14:10-15 ESV / 5 helpful votes

All of them will answer and say to you: ‘You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!’ Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers. “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ ...

1 Samuel 18:1-3 ESV / 5 helpful votes

As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.

1 Samuel 8:4-7 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

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