2 Chronicles 20:7

20:7 Our God, you drove out ¹  the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it as a permanent possession ²  to the descendants of your friend ³  Abraham.

Job 16:21

16:21 and ⁴  he contends with God on behalf of man

as a man ⁵  pleads ⁶  for his friend.

Isaiah 42:8

The Lord Intervenes

42:8 I am the Lord! That is my name!

I will not share my glory with anyone else,

or the praise due me with idols.

John 3:29

3:29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly ⁷  when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete. ⁸ 

John 11:11

11:11 After he said this, he added, ⁹  “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. ¹⁰  But I am going there to awaken him.”

John 15:14-15

15:14 You are my friends ¹¹  if you do what I command you. 15:15 I no longer call you slaves, ¹²  because the slave does not understand ¹³  what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything ¹⁴  I heard ¹⁵  from my Father.

James 2:23

2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Now Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness,” ¹⁶  and he was called God’s friend. ¹⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “did you not drive out?” This is another rhetorical question which expects a positive response; see the note on the word “heaven” in the previous verse.

² tn Heb “permanently.”

³ tn Or perhaps “your covenantal partner.” See Isa 41:8.

⁴ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 240) alters this slightly to read “Would that” or “Ah! if only.”

⁵ tn This is the simple translation of the expression “son of man” in Job. But some commentators wish to change the word בֵּן (ben, “son”) to בֵּין (ben, “between”). It would then be “[as] between a man and [for] his friend.” Even though a few mss have this reading, it is to be rejected. But see J. Barr, “Some Notes on ‘ben’ in Classical Hebrew,” JSS 23 (1978): 1-22.

⁶ tn The verb is supplied from the parallel clause.

⁷ tn Grk “rejoices with joy” (an idiom).

⁸ tn Grk “Therefore this my joy is fulfilled.”

⁹ tn Grk “He said these things, and after this he said to them.”

¹⁰ tn The verb κοιμάω (koimaw) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for death when speaking of believers. This metaphorical usage by its very nature emphasizes the hope of resurrection: Believers will one day “wake up” out of death. Here the term refers to death, but “asleep” was used in the translation to emphasize the metaphorical, rhetorical usage of the term, especially in light of the disciples’ confusion over what Jesus actually meant (see v. 13).

¹¹ sn This verse really explains John 15:10 in another way. Those who keep Jesus’ commandments are called his friends, those friends for whom he lays down his life (v. 13). It is possible to understand this verse as referring to a smaller group within Christianity as a whole, perhaps only the apostles who were present when Jesus spoke these words. Some have supported this by comparing it to the small group of associates and advisers to the Roman Emperor who were called “Friends of the Emperor.” Others would see these words as addressed only to those Christians who as disciples were obedient to Jesus. In either case the result would be to create a sort of “inner circle” of Christians who are more privileged than mere “believers” or average Christians. In context, it seems clear that Jesus’ words must be addressed to all true Christians, not just some narrower category of believers, because Jesus’ sacrificial death, which is his act of love toward his friends (v. 13) applies to all Christians equally (cf. John 13:1).

¹² tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

¹³ tn Or “does not know.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “all things.”

¹⁵ tn Or “learned.”

¹⁶ sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.

¹⁷ sn An allusion to 2 Chr 20:7; Isa 41:8; 51:2; Dan 3:35 (LXX), in which Abraham is called God’s “beloved.”