35 Bible Verses about Friendship

Despite the explosion of social media outlets in our culture, people are feeling more alone than ever. These Bible verses on friendship help us to understand God's intention for healthy relationships.

Friendship is an important part of life. Friends help us feel loved, and help us connect more intimately with the world around us. The Bible says that God created us in His image, which means that we were made for relationships. These Bible verses on friendship can help us build healthy relationships with others and maintain them over time.

A true friend will love you unconditionally, even when you fail. They will encourage you, support you and help you pursue godliness. They will not gossip about you behind your back. They will pray for you and stand up for you when you need it. They will forgive you when you sin against them. They will be faithful and trustworthy.

Proverbs teaches us to pay attention to the character of the people we meet, and avoid intimate associations with people who are bad influences on our lives. This includes those who are dishonest, disrespectful, abusive, or selfish. It also includes those who are judgmental, gossipy, or self-centered.

When we follow the teaching of scripture, we will become the type of person others want to be around, loving others with Christ’s love (1 Corinthians 13:4-6), and treating others the way we want to be treated ourselves.

Characteristics of Biblical Friendship

John 15:13

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

1 John 4:21

And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Job 6:14

He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

Psalm 133:1

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!

Proverbs 17:17

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

Proverbs 18:24

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

Proverbs 20:6

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

Proverbs 27:9

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

Proverbs 27:17

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

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!

Ecclesiastes 4:12

And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Romans 1:11-12

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

Scripture on How to Treat a Friend

Luke 6:31

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

Romans 12:10  

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

1 Corinthians 13:4-6

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Galatians 6:2

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Ephesians 4:29

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Ephesians 4:32

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Colossians 3:12-14

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 Thessalonians 5:11

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

Hebrews 10:24-25

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

1 Peter 4:8-10 

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.

Warnings about the People We Associate With

Proverbs 10:18

Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool.

Proverbs 13:20

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

Proverbs 16:28 

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

Proverbs 20:19

A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much.

Proverbs 22:24

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.

1 Corinthians 15:33

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

James 4:4

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.

Friendship with Jesus

John 15:13-15

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.

Examples of Friendship in the Bible

Exodus 33:11

Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Ruth 1:16-18

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

1 Samuel 18:1-3 

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.

2 Kings 2:2

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.

James 2:23

And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.