Bible Strands
Proverbs 27:10
Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity; better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The author addresses a younger listener, contrasting the reliability of immediate support with the unreliability of distant kinship during times of crisis.
The words — `ta.'a.Zo` (you forsake) and `re.'eh` (neighbor) anchor the command to maintain accessible relationships rather than relying on far-off relatives.
The thread — Proverbs 18:24 notes a friend may stay closer than a brother, while Proverbs 17:17 states a brother is born for adversity. 1 Kings 12:6 records Rehoboam consulting his father’s elders.
Why it lands — The text commands prioritizing accessible, reliable support over distant kinship during calamity. It asks the reader to cultivate and maintain nearby relationships before crisis strikes.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.
- Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
- 1 Kings 12:6 Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked.
- Luke 10:30 Jesus took up this question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
- Proverbs 19:7 All the brothers of a poor man hate him—how much more do his friends avoid him! He may pursue them with pleading, but they are nowhere to be found.
- Obadiah 1:12 But you should not gloat in that day, your brother’s day of misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast proudly in the day of their distress.
- 2 Samuel 19:24 Then Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, went down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet or trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king had left until the day he returned safely.
- Job 6:21 For now you are of no help; you see terror, and you are afraid.
- 2 Samuel 21:7 Now the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD between David and Jonathan son of Saul.
- 2 Chronicles 10:6 Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked.