Kohathite: 30 Bible Verses About Friendship From The Old Testament

30 Bible Verses About Friendship From The Old Testament

I’ve focused on verses highlighting loyalty, kindness, companionship, and wise counsel—key aspects of godly friendship.

Proverbs 17:17 – "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity."
Proverbs 18:24 – "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."
Ecclesiastes 4:9 – "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor."
Ecclesiastes 4:10 – "If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up."
Proverbs 27:17 – "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."
Proverbs 27:9 – "Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice."
Proverbs 27:6 – "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses."
Proverbs 22:24-25 – "Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared."
Proverbs 13:20 – "Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm."
Job 2:11 – "When Job’s three friends heard of all this, they came each from their own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—to go and sympathize with him and comfort him."
Ruth 1:16-17 – "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God."
Proverbs 27:10 – "Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you—better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away."
1 Samuel 18:1-3 – "After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself."
Proverbs 20:6 – "Many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find?"
Proverbs 12:26 – "The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray."
Ecclesiastes 4:12 – "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."
Proverbs 16:28 – "A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends."
Genesis 13:8-9 – "So Abram said to Lot, 'Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company.'”
Proverbs 14:20 – "The poor are shunned by all their relatives—how much more do their friends avoid them! Though the poor pursue them with pleading, they are nowhere to be found."
Proverbs 19:4 – "Wealth attracts many friends, but even the closest friend of the poor person deserts them."
2 Samuel 1:26 – "I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women."
Proverbs 11:13 – "A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret."
Proverbs 25:17 – "Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house—too much of you, and they will hate you."
Psalm 55:13-14 – "But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers."
Proverbs 28:23 – "Whoever rebukes a person will in the end gain favor rather than one who has a flattering tongue."
Ecclesiastes 7:9 – "Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools."
Proverbs 3:28 – "Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you’—when you already have it with you."
Proverbs 24:26 – "An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips."
Psalm 133:1 – "How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!"
Proverbs 21:21 – "Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and honor."