– Coming from the Latin amicus , which means favorite, confidant, protector, ally, this word maintains this meaning in several books of the Bible. This is how we see it in the AT, and in the NT (in which Jesus defines what friendship is!):
Exodus 33:11 : The Lord talked with Moses face to face, as a man talks with his friend.
Is 41 :8 : But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham, my friend.
Pr 27,10 : Do not forsake your friend, the friend of your father.
Eclo 7,20 : Do not do evil against a friend who is slow to pay you.
Eclo 9,14 : Do not abandon an old friend, for the new one will not be worth it.
Eclo 12,8 : The friend does not know each other during prosperity.
Mc 10,21 : You lack only one thing; go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
Jn 11:3.11.35 : After these words, he added: “Lazarus, our friend, is sleeping, but I am going to wake him up”.
Jn 13:23 : One of the disciples, whom Jesus loved, was at the table reclining on Jesus’ breast.
Jo 15,14-15 : You are my friends, if you do what I command you.
– Sacred Scripture also cites examples of deceitful friendship:
Deut 13:6 : That prophet, that visionary, however, will be killed for having preached revolt against the Lord.
Ps 40:10 : Even the friend I trusted, who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
Pr 14:20 : Even his companion the poor is hateful; many are the friends of the rich.
Pr 18,24 : A man surrounded by many friends has his misfortune in them, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Eclo 6,7 : If you acquire a friend, acquire him in trial, do not trust him so quickly.
John 13:18ff : He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.
– Ecclesiasticus gives a series of advice regarding friendship. Psalms narrates the friendship between David and Jonathan:
Eclo 22, 24-32 : Whoever hurts an eye, brings tears out of it; whoever hurts a heart excites the sensitivity in it.
1Sm 18,1-5 : Jonathan’s soul cleaved to David’s soul, and Jonathan began to love him as himself.
