Exodus 23:5

23:5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, you must not ignore him, ¹  but be sure to help ²  him with it. ³ 

Proverbs 18:24

18:24 A person who has friends ⁴  may be harmed by them, ⁵ 

but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Acts 11:25

11:25 Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to look for Saul,

Romans 16:2-4

16:2 so that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and provide her with whatever help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many, including me.

16:3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, ⁶  my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 16:4 who risked their own necks for my life. Not only I, but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

Galatians 6:2

6:2 Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Philippians 4:3

4:3 Yes, I say also to you, true companion, ⁷  help them. They have struggled together in the gospel ministry ⁸  along with me and Clement and my other coworkers, whose names are in the book of life.

¹ tn The line reads “you will cease to forsake him” – refrain from leaving your enemy without help.

² tn The law is emphatic here as well, using the infinitive absolute and the imperfect of instruction (or possibly obligation). There is also a wordplay here: two words עָזַב (’azav) are used, one meaning “forsake” and the other possibly meaning “arrange” based on Arabic and Ugaritic evidence (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 297-98).

³ sn See H. B. Huffmon, “Exodus 23:4-5: A Comparative Study,” A Light Unto My Path, 271-78.

⁴ tc The construction is “a man of friends” (cf. NASB) meaning a man who has friends (a genitive of the thing possessed). C. H. Toy, however, suggests reading יֵשׁ (yesh) instead of אִישׁ (’ish), along with some of the Greek mss, the Syriac, and Tg. Prov 18:24. It would then say “there are friends” who are unreliable (Proverbs [ICC], 366); cf. NLT. However, the MT should be retained here.

⁵ tn The text simply has לְהִתְרֹעֵעַ (lÿhitro’ea’), which means “for being crushed” or “to be shattered” (but not “to show oneself friendly” as in the KJV). What can be made of the sentence is that “a man who has [many] friends [may have them] for being crushed” – the infinitive giving the result (i.e., “with the result that he may be crushed by them”).

⁶ sn On Prisca and Aquila see also Acts 18:2, 18, 26; 1 Cor 16:19; 2 Tim 4:19. In the NT “Priscilla” and “Prisca” are the same person. The author of Acts uses the full name Priscilla, while Paul uses the diminutive form Prisca.

⁷ tn Or “faithful fellow worker.” This is more likely a descriptive noun, although some scholars interpret the word σύζυγος (suzugos) here as a proper name (“Syzygos”), L&N 42.45.

⁸ tn Grk “in the gospel,” a metonymy in which the gospel itself is substituted for the ministry of making the gospel known.