Proverbs 18:24

A person who has friends ¹  may be harmed by them, ²  but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

A man of too many friends comes to ruin, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

There are "friends" who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family.

There are friends who may be a man’s destruction, but there is a lover who keeps nearer than a brother.

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

A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

A person who has friends ¹  may be harmed by them, ²  but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

¹ 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.

² 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”).