Bible Verses About Friendship: 12 Verses on True Friends

Bible verses about what makes a good friend

Every verse in this guide is quoted from the World English Bible, with a line about where it comes from.

• Proverbs 17:17. “A friend loves at all times; and a brother is born for adversity.” From the proverbs credited to Solomon. A real friend is still there when things go wrong.
• Proverbs 18:24. “A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” From the same collection. A long contact list won’t save you, and one loyal friend might.
• Ecclesiastes 4:10. “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.” The Preacher, whom tradition identifies as Solomon, on why two are better than one.
• Proverbs 27:9. “Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man’s friend.” From proverbs of Solomon copied out by King Hezekiah’s men (Proverbs 25:1).

Bible verses about honest friends

• Proverbs 27:6. “The wounds of a friend are faithful, although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.” From the same collection as Proverbs 27:9. A friend’s hard truth can be kinder than an enemy’s flattery.
• Proverbs 27:17. “Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance.” From the same chapter. Good friends make each other better.

Bible verses about friends in hard times

• Job 2:13. “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.” Job’s friends at their best, before they started talking.
• Job 6:14. “To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend”. Job, after those same friends began to lecture him.
• Romans 12:15. “Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.” Paul to Christians in Rome. A friend shares your good news as well as your bad.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:11. “Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.” Paul to a young church under pressure. Exhort here means encourage.

Bible verses about choosing your friends

• Proverbs 13:20. “One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” From the proverbs credited to Solomon. You become like the people you walk with.
• 1 Corinthians 15:33. “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.” Paul borrows this line from a Greek play, probably by Menander.

David and Jonathan: the friend who gave up a crown

Jonathan was King Saul’s son and should have been the next king. David was the shepherd who beat Goliath, and Saul came to fear him. The two had every reason to be rivals. Instead, “the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” (1 Samuel 18:1). Jonathan made a covenant with David and gave him his robe and his sword (1 Samuel 18:3–4).

When Saul set out to kill David, Jonathan warned him and took his side, even when Saul threw a spear at him for it (1 Samuel 20:33). Later, with David hiding in the wilderness, Jonathan went to find him and “strengthened his hand in God.” (1 Samuel 23:16). He told him, “you will be king over Israel, and I will be next to you” (1 Samuel 23:17). He was handing over his own future, and he said it as encouragement.

Jonathan died in battle before that day came. David mourned him: “I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan.” (2 Samuel 1:26). Years later, as king, he asked if anyone was left “that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake” (2 Samuel 9:1), and he brought Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth to eat at his table for the rest of his life. A good friendship can outlive the friend.

Ruth and Naomi: the friend who wouldn’t leave

Ruth was Naomi’s daughter-in-law, and the marriage that joined them was over. Both had lost their husbands in Moab, and Naomi her two sons as well. She was going home to Bethlehem with nothing, and she told Ruth to go back to her own people (Ruth 1:8).

Ruth refused: “for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.” (Ruth 1:16). She gave up her country and her chances of a new start to stay with a grieving older woman who had nothing to offer her.

Naomi came home bitter, and Ruth stayed anyway. By the end of the book, the women of Bethlehem tell Naomi that Ruth “is better to you than seven sons” (Ruth 4:15). This is what the Bible means by a friend who loves at all times: someone who stays when you have nothing to give back.

What does the Bible say about friendship?

Read together, these verses and stories describe friendship as loyalty. A friend stays, tells the truth and shows up when it costs something. The Hebrew word that fits best is hesed, the loyal love the Old Testament uses most often for God, and both Jonathan and Ruth show it. That puts friendship close to what the Bible says about love.

The Bible even calls people God’s friends. “The LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” (Exodus 33:11). Abraham “was called the friend of God.” (James 2:23). In John 15, on the night before he died, Jesus called his disciples his friends.

When a friend hurts you, or you don’t have one

The Bible knows how this feels. In Psalm 55, David says he could have endured an enemy’s insult, “But it was you, a man like me, my companion, and my familiar friend.” (Psalm 55:13). You can pray that psalm as it stands. When you’re ready, our list of Bible verses about forgiveness may help.

If you’re lonely, you’re in good company. Psalm 88 ends with “You have put lover and friend far from me”. Tradition holds that Paul, in prison near the end of his life, wrote, “At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me.” and then, “But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me” (2 Timothy 4:16–17).

A good next step is small: be the friend you’re missing for one person this week. Send the message and ask how they are.

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