Renew Your Friendships With These Inspiring Bible Verses

“Some friends play at friendship but a true friend sticks closer than one’s nearest kin.”

The Good News: True friends will be with you through life’s most soul-shaking changes.

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

The Good News: The sacrifice of Jesus represents the ultimate act of friendship.

“But Ruth said. . . ‘Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.’”

The Good News: Widowed Ruth leaves her home and family to travel to a foreign land with her mother-in-law Naomi, one of the Bible’s most stirring examples of loyal friendship.

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The Good News: The most fundamental message of Jesus is that we must love and care for one another.

“One who forgives an affront fosters friendship, but one who dwells on disputes will alienate a friend.”

The Good News: Be kind and forgiving and you will have many devoted friends; hold grudges and you will lose them.

“Pleasant speech multiplies friends, and a gracious tongue multiplies courtesies.”

The Good News: Kindness begets kindness; reach out to others and they will reach out to you.

“For it [the spirit of wisdom] is an unfailing treasure for mortals; those who get it obtain friendship with God, commended for the gifts that come from instruction.”

The Good News: God delights in wisdom and befriends the seeker after truth.

“I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.”

The Good News: Through our knowledge and worship of the Lord, we become not just his disciples, but also his friends.

“Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers to you.”

The Good News: Jesus calls us all to welcome strangers and treat them as friends.

“We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”

The Good News: Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross inspires us to sacrifice for others.

“These people are friendly with us; let them live in the land and trade in it, for the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters in marriage, and let us give them our daughters.”

The Good News: Friendship encourages peace; the earth is large enough to accommodate us all.

“Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.”

The Good News: The friendship of Jonathan and David — unbreakable despite the hostility of Jonathan’s father Saul — models God’s wish for His people.

“Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.”

The Good News: Paul exhorts the Christians in Rome to love and support one another, just as we should do today.

“When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’”

The Good News: The message of the risen Lord to Peter is unequivocal: If you love me, you must tend to those in need.

“A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray."

The Good News: If you choose the right friends, they will lead you down the right path. And vice versa.

"Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared."

The Good News: Choose your friends wisely and avoid those who are quick to anger, or that anger may affect you.

"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."

The Good News: Respect your friends and treat them how you would like to be treated, because you need them in your life.

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

The Good News: Two people can get more done together than only one person can.

"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."

The Good News: When you struggle, a good friend will help you through the tough times. A good friend is a privilege and something to be thankful for.

"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."

The Good News: When in doubt, show your friends love as much as possible.

"A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.”

The Good News: Gossip is the mark of a bad friend.

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

The Good News: The Godly thing to do is to show love to all your friends.

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

The Good News: Friendship and fellowship is something special and wonderful.

“"Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

The Good News: Be quick to forgive your friends as God is quick to forgive you.

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

The Good News: When in doubt, encourage your friends.