What Does The Bible Say About?

Choosing Friends

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What Does The Bible Say About Choosing Friends

1 Corinthians 15:33

2,092 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

Proverbs 13:20

1,733 helpful votes

He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

Proverbs 27:17

1,568 helpful votes

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 17:17

1,448 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 18:24

1,372 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 12:26

1,369 helpful votes

A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the ways of the wicked lead them astray.

Proverbs 22:24-25

1,326 helpful votes

Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man, or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

John 15:13

753 helpful votes

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

Proverbs 27:5-6

642 helpful votes

Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed. The wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Proverbs 27:6

641 helpful votes

The wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Proverbs 27:9

634 helpful votes

Oil and incense bring joy to the heart, and the sweetness of a friend is counsel to the soul.

Proverbs 16:28

612 helpful votes

A perverse man spreads dissension, and a gossip divides close friends.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

504 helpful votes

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up!

Proverbs 17:9

500 helpful votes

Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but he who brings it up separates friends.

James 4:4

489 helpful votes

You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.

Job 2:11

476 helpful votes

Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home, and they met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

462 helpful votes

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up! Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Proverbs 19:20

431 helpful votes

Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days.

2 Kings 2:2

419 helpful votes

and Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

John 15:15

418 helpful votes

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.

Proverbs 11:14

418 helpful votes

For lack of guidance, a nation falls, but with many counselors comes deliverance.

Proverbs 24:5

412 helpful votes

A wise man is strong, and a man of knowledge enhances his strength.

Colossians 3:12-14

409 helpful votes

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity.

Luke 6:31

400 helpful votes

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

John 15:12-15

387 helpful votes

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he 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 a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.

2 Corinthians 6:14

382 helpful votes

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

Proverbs 14:6-7

381 helpful votes

A mocker seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge comes easily to the discerning. Stay away from a foolish man; you will gain no knowledge from his speech.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

355 helpful votes

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

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

342 helpful votes

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Revelation 14:12

332 helpful votes

Here is a call for the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

1 Samuel 18:1-3

328 helpful votes

After David had finished speaking with Saul, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and Jonathan loved him as himself. And from that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.

Proverbs 16:29

327 helpful votes

A violent man entices his neighbor and leads him down a path that is not good.

Proverbs 27:10

312 helpful votes

Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity; better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.

Proverbs 1:10

311 helpful votes

My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.

Revelation 12:1-17

310 helpful votes

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and crying out in the pain and agony of giving birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars from the sky, tossing them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, ready to devour her child as soon as she gave birth. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne. . . .

Proverbs 27:5

300 helpful votes

Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed.

James 4:8

296 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.

Ruth 1:16-17

285 helpful votes

But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

1 Chronicles 16:11

283 helpful votes

Seek out the LORD and His strength; seek His face always.

1 Corinthians 15:33-34

279 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.” Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.

Proverbs 22:24

277 helpful votes

Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man,

Psalm 26:4-5

276 helpful votes

I do not sit with deceitful men, nor keep company with hypocrites. I hate the mob of evildoers, and refuse to sit with the wicked.

Proverbs 19:4

274 helpful votes

Wealth attracts many friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend.

Proverbs 15:22

258 helpful votes

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

Proverbs 24:6

254 helpful votes

Only with sound guidance should you wage war, and victory lies in a multitude of counselors.

Proverbs 19:6-7

247 helpful votes

Many seek the favor of the prince, and everyone is a friend of the gift giver. All the brothers of a poor man hate him—how much more do his friends avoid him! He may pursue them with pleading, but they are nowhere to be found.

Colossians 2:1-23

246 helpful votes

For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face, that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric. For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ. . . .

Revelation 1:1-20

244 helpful votes

This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, who testifies to everything he saw. This is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and obey what is written in it, because the time is near. John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from Him who is and was and is to come, and from the seven Spirits before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood, . . .

Psalm 1:1

240 helpful votes

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

Proverbs 4:14-19

238 helpful votes

Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it; do not travel on it. Turn from it and pass on by. For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday. . . .

Proverbs 1:10-19

234 helpful votes

My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them. If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause, let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit. We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder. Throw in your lot with us; let us all share one purse”— . . .

Proverbs 22:11

230 helpful votes

He who loves a pure heart and gracious lips will have the king for a friend.

Galatians 6:2

229 helpful votes

Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

1 John 4:8

228 helpful votes

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

John 14:6

218 helpful votes

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Romans 12:10

216 helpful votes

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.

1 Corinthians 5:11

211 helpful votes

But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

Luke 1:37

209 helpful votes

For no word from God will ever fail.”

Romans 8:1-39

206 helpful votes

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. . . .

Proverbs 12:27

204 helpful votes

A lazy man does not roast his game, but a diligent man prizes his possession.

Proverbs 20:19

193 helpful votes

He who reveals secrets is a constant gossip; avoid the one who babbles with his lips.

Revelation 11:1-19

187 helpful votes

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there. But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed. . . .

1 Timothy 3:1-16

186 helpful votes

This is a trustworthy saying: If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble task. An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not dependent on wine, not violent but gentle, peaceable, and free of the love of money. An overseer must manage his own household well and keep his children under control, with complete dignity. For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for the church of God? . . .

Matthew 5:22

184 helpful votes

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell.

1 John 3:1

181 helpful votes

Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

Proverbs 20:6

180 helpful votes

Many a man proclaims his loving devotion, but who can find a trustworthy man?

Romans 15:32

172 helpful votes

so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

170 helpful votes

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you. We always thank God for all of you, remembering you in our prayers and continually recalling before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers who are beloved by God, we know that He has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with great conviction—just as you know we lived among you for your sake. . . .

John 17:17

170 helpful votes

Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.

John 14:1-31

169 helpful votes

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” “Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?” . . .

Isaiah 3:1-26

168 helpful votes

For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water, the mighty man and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the soothsayer and the elder, the commander of fifty and the dignitary, the counselor, the cunning magician, and the clever enchanter. “I will make mere lads their leaders, and children will rule over them.” The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the young will rise up against the old, and the base against the honorable. . . .

Hebrews 10:24-25

166 helpful votes

And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Psalm 119:63

166 helpful votes

I am a friend to all who fear You, and to those who keep Your precepts.

Revelation 12:9

161 helpful votes

And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Psalm 133:1

159 helpful votes

A song of ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!

1 Timothy 3:4

158 helpful votes

An overseer must manage his own household well and keep his children under control, with complete dignity.

Job 2:11-13

157 helpful votes

Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home, and they met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him. When they lifted up their eyes from afar, they could barely recognize Job. They began to weep aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust in the air over his head. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw how intense his suffering was.

Mark 12:31

156 helpful votes

The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

Proverbs 4:14-15

155 helpful votes

Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it; do not travel on it. Turn from it and pass on by.

Proverbs 13:2

151 helpful votes

From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things, but the desire of the faithless is violence.

Romans 12:15

149 helpful votes

Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.

1 John 1:9

147 helpful votes

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Proverbs 12:15

147 helpful votes

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to counsel.

Proverbs 12:5

140 helpful votes

The plans of the righteous are just, but the counsel of the wicked leads to deceit.

1 Corinthians 15:34

137 helpful votes

Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.

Ephesians 2:1-3

132 helpful votes

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

John 15:13-15

131 helpful votes

Greater love has no one than this, that he 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 a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.

Proverbs 12:25

126 helpful votes

Anxiety weighs down the heart of a man, but a good word cheers it up.

Romans 12:10-11

125 helpful votes

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another. Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Proverbs 3:5

124 helpful votes

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;

1 Samuel 18:1-4

123 helpful votes

After David had finished speaking with Saul, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and Jonathan loved him as himself. And from that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. And Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

Proverbs 12:13

118 helpful votes

An evil man is trapped by his rebellious speech, but a righteous man escapes from trouble.

Jeremiah 29:11

117 helpful votes

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.

Matthew 18:20

114 helpful votes

For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them.”

Romans 12:2

112 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

John 3:16-17

109 helpful votes

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

Proverbs 22:6

107 helpful votes

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Philippians 4:8

105 helpful votes

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.

Hebrews 13:5

94 helpful votes

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9

81 helpful votes

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.

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