Friendship

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

General scriptures concerning

• Deuteronomy 13:6–9 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (which neither you nor your fathers have known, the gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, whether from one end of the ea…
• Job 6:14–15 A despairing man should have the kindness of his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. But my brothers are as faithless as wadis, as seasonal streams that overflow,
• Job 16:2 “I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all.
• Job 16:20 My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God.
• Job 19:13–22 He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me. My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me. My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight. I call for my servant, but he does not answer, though I implore him with my own mo…
• Psalm 35:13–14 Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered. I paced about as for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning for his mother.
• Psalm 41:9 Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
• Psalm 55:12–14 For it is not an enemy who insults me; that I could endure. It is not a foe who rises against me; from him I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion and close friend. We shared sweet fellowship together; we walked with the crowd into the house of God.
• Psalm 88:8 You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape.
• Psalm 88:18 You have removed my beloved and my friend; darkness is my closest companion.

Instances of

Abraham and Lot

• Genesis 14:14–16 And when Abram heard that his relative had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men born in his household, and they set out in pursuit as far as Dan. During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. He retrieved all…

Ruth and Naomi

• Ruth 1:16–17 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 se…

Samuel and Saul

• 1 Samuel 15:35 And to the day of his death, Samuel never again visited Saul. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.
• 1 Samuel 16:1 Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have selected from his sons a king for Myself.”

David and Jonathan

• 1 Samuel 18:1–4 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.…
• 1 Samuel 20 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?” “Far from it!” Jonathan replied. “You will not die. Indeed, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me.… (whole chapter)
• 1 Samuel 23:16–18 And Saul’s son Jonathan came to David in Horesh and strengthened his hand in God, saying, “Do not be afraid, for my father Saul will never lay a hand on you. And you will be king over Israel, and I will be your second-in-command. Even my father Saul knows this is true.” So the two of them made a co…
• 2 Samuel 1:17–27 Then David took up this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan, and he ordered that the sons of Judah be taught the Song of the Bow. It is written in the Book of Jashar: “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights. How the mighty have fallen! Tell it not in Gath; proclaim it not in the streets…
• 2 Samuel 9:1–13 Then David asked, “Is there anyone left from the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for the sake of Jonathan?” And there was a servant of the house of Saul named Ziba. They summoned him to David, and the king inquired, “Are you Ziba?” “I am your servant,” he replied. So the king asked, “Is t…

David and Abiathar

• 1 Samuel 22:23 Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks your life is seeking mine as well. You will be safe with me.”

David and Nahash

• 2 Samuel 10:2 And David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent some of his servants to console Hanun concerning his father. But when they arrived in the land of the Ammonites,

David and Hiram

• 1 Kings 5:1 Now when Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king in his father’s place, he sent envoys to Solomon; for Hiram had always been a friend of David.

David and Hushai

• 2 Samuel 15:32–37 When David came to the summit, where he used to worship God, Hushai the Archite was there to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his head. David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me. But you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me if you return to the city and say…
• 2 Samuel 16 When David had gone a little beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him. He had a pair of saddled donkeys loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred clusters of raisins, a hundred summer fruits, and a skin of wine. “Why do you have these?” asked the king. Ziba… (whole chapter)
• 2 Samuel 17:1–22 Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men and set out tonight in pursuit of David. I will attack him while he is weak and weary; I will throw him into a panic, and all the people with him will flee; I will strike down only the king and bring all the people back to…

David and Ittai

• 2 Samuel 15:19–21 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your homeland. In fact, you arrived only yesterday; should I make you wander around with us today while I do not know where I am going? Go b…

Joram and Ahaziah

• 2 Kings 8:28–29 Then Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram. So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son o…
• 2 Kings 9:16 Then Jehu got into his chariot and went to Jezreel, because Joram was laid up there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.

JOB and his three "friends,"

• Job 2:11–13 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, t…

Daniel and his three companions

• Daniel 2:49 And at Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to manage the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king’s court.

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, with Jesus

• Luke 10:38–42 As they traveled along, Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to His message. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations to be made. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, do You not care t…
• John 11:1–46 At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was to anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.” When Jesus hea…

The Marys, and Joseph of Arimathaea, for Jesus

• Matthew 27:55–61 And many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to minister to Him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself wa…
• Matthew 28:1–8 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolled away the stone, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white…
• Luke 24:10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.
• John 20:11–18 But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent down to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and the other at the feet. “Woman, why are you weeping?” they asked. “Because they have taken my Lord away,” she s…

Luke and Theophilus

• Acts 1:1 In my first book, O Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach,

Paul and his nephew

• Acts 23:16 But when the son of Paul’s sister heard about the plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul.

Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila

• Romans 16:3–4 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who have risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus

• Philippians 2:19–20 Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I learn how you are doing. I have nobody else like him who will genuinely care for your needs.
• Philippians 2:22 But you know Timothy’s proven worth, that as a child with his father he has served with me to advance the gospel.
• Philippians 2:25 But I thought it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my needs.