BIBLE VERSES ABOUT FRIENDSHIP AND CHOOSING A FRIEND

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT FRIENDSHIP?

The bible verses about friends and friendship shows us examples of friends/friendship. It is paramount you choose your friends wisely. 

WHY SHOULD YOU CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS WISELY?

Friends confide in and counsel each other. The counsel you receive from your friend is a product of your friend’s personality.  This is true because evil communication corrupts good manners. Your friend will either make you a  better person or influence you negatively.  “Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces”(Proverbs 13:20-MSG).

SOME BIBLE VERSE ABOUT FRIENDSHIP QUALITIES

See bible verses about friendship qualities on purpose of friendship with biblical inferences

KINDS OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE BIBLE

Friendship existed and can be seen from biblical inferences. Friendship can be beneficial and friendship can be destructive. Choosing your friends wisely helps you prevent the pitfalls of wrong associations. 

 BIBLE EXAMPLES OF GOOD FRIENDS

David and Jonathan 

"After David had finished talking with Saul, he met Jonathan, the king's son. There was an immediate bond of love between them, and they became the best of friends" (1 Sam 18:1-2-NLT).

The friendship between David and Johnathan exemplifies love, loyalty and faithfulness between two friends. A real friend sticks closer than a brother (Prov 18:24-NLT). Even in death, there was still a demonstration of loyalty and kindness to a friend. 

“O my dear brother Jonathan, I'm crushed by your death. Your friendship was a miracle-wonder, love far exceeding anything I've known or ever hope to know” (2 Sam 1:26-MSG), One day David asked; "Is anyone in Saul's family still alive—anyone to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake" (2 Sam 9:-NLT).

Daniel and his friends prayed together about an issue that affected them collectively.

Daniel 2:17-18: “Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon” (NLT).

GOOD/POSITIVE FRIENDSHIP BIBLE VERSES

Proverbs 12:26: “The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray” (NLT).

Proverbs 27:9: “The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense (NLT); Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel” (NIV).

Proverbs 17:17: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (NIV); A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need (NLT).

Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend” (NLT).

BIBLE EXAMPLES OF  BAD FRIENDS 

Haman and his friends, Amnon and his friend (2Sam 13) and Rehoboam and his friend (1Kings 12:8-17) are some examples in the bible.

HAMAN AND HIS FRIENDS

Haman’s friends counselled him to hang Mordecai on gallows. The consequence was fatal because the counsel he heeded turned against him. He was the one hung on the gallows he prepared. 

Esther 5:14 (NLT)

So Haman's wife, Zeresh, and all his friends suggested, "Set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall, and in the morning ask the king to impale Mordecai on it. When this is done, you can go on your merry way to the banquet with the king." This pleased Haman, and he ordered the pole set up 

Esther 7:9-10 (NIV): Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, "A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman's house. He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king. "The king said, "Hang him on it!" 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's fury subsided.

 AMNON AND HIS FRIEND 

Amnon’s friend, Jonadab was a crafty man. His counsel cannot be heartfelt because of his personality. Amnon heeded his counsel and the consequence was fatal.

2 Samuel 13:1-19: In the course of time, Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David.

2 Amnon became frustrated to the point of illness on account of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her.

3 But Amnon had a very crafty friend—his cousin Jonadab. He was the son of David's brother Shimea

 4 He asked Amnon, "Why do you, the king's son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won't you tell me?" Amnon said to him, "I'm in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister."

5 "Go to bed and pretend to be ill," Jonadab said. "When your father comes to see you, say to him, 'I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand.'"

6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, "I would like my sister Tamar to come and make some special bread in my sight, so I may eat from her hand."

7 David sent word to Tamar at the palace: "Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare some food for him."

8 So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made the bread in his sight and baked it.

9 Then she took the pan and served him the bread, but he refused to eat. "Send everyone out of here," Amnon said. So everyone left him.

 10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the food here into my bedroom so I may eat from your hand." And Tamar took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom.

11 But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, "Come to bed with me, my sister."

12 "Don't, my brother!" she said to him. "Don't force me. Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don't do this wicked thing. 

13 What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you."

14 But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.

15 Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, "Get up and get out!"

16 "No!" she said to him. "Sending me away would be a greater wrong than what you have already done to me. "But he refused to listen to her.

17 He called his personal servant and said, "Get this woman out of here and bolt the door after her." 

18 So his servant put her out and bolted the door after her. She was wearing a richly ornamented robe, for this was the kind of garment the virgin daughters of the king wore.

19 Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornamented robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went.

Her brother Absalom said to her, "Has that Amnon, your brother, been with you? Be quiet now, my sister; he is your brother. Don't take this thing to heart." And Tamar lived in her brother Absalom's house, a desolate woman.

21 When King David heard all this, he was furious. 

22 Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad; he hated Amnon because he had disgraced his sister Tamar. 

23 Two years later, when Absalom's sheepshearers were at Baal Hazor near the border of Ephraim, he invited all the king's sons to come there.

24 Absalom went to the king and said, "Your servant has had shearers come. Will the king and his officials please join me?"

25 "No, my son," the king replied. "All of us should not go; we would only be a burden to you." Although Absalom urged him, he still refused to go, but gave him his blessing.

26 Then Absalom said, "If not, please let my brother Amnon come with us. "The king asked him, "Why should he go with you?"

27 But Absalom urged him, so he sent with him Amnon and the rest of the king's sons.

28 Absalom ordered his men, "Listen! When Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine and I say to you, 'Strike Amnon down,' then kill him. Don't be afraid. Have not I given you this order? Be strong and brave."

29 So Absalom's men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered.

REHOBOAM AND HIS FRIEND 

Rehoboam’s advisers (his friends) counselled him wrongly. He lost a greater part of the kingdom when he heeded their advice.

1Kings 12:8-16

But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9 He asked them, "What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?" 10 The young men who had grown up with him replied, "Tell these people who have said to you, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter'-tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. 11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.'"12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days." 13 The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, 14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, "My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions." 15 So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite. 16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: "What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse's son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!"

BAD FRIENDSHIP BIBLE VERSES

Proverbs 18:24: “There are "friends" who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother” (NLT).

Proverbs 18:1 “Unfriendly people care only about themselves; they lash out at common sense” (NLT).

Proverbs 12:26: “The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray” (NLT).

CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS WISELY!