Verse 4

Everyone must be on his guard around his friends. He must not even trust any of his relatives. For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. And all of his friends will tell lies about him.

Referenced Verses

  • Lev 19:16 : 16 You must not go about as a slanderer among your people. You must not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake. I am the LORD.
  • Ps 12:2-3 : 2 People lie to one another; they flatter and deceive. 3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that boasts!
  • Prov 26:24-25 : 24 The one who hates others disguises it with his lips, but he stores up deceit within him. 25 When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for there are seven abominations within him.
  • Jer 6:28 : 28 I reported,“All of them are the most stubborn of rebels! They are as hard as bronze or iron. They go about telling lies. They all deal corruptly.
  • Mic 7:5-6 : 5 Do not rely on a friend; do not trust a companion! Even with the one who lies in your arms, do not share secrets! 6 For a son thinks his father is a fool, a daughter challenges her mother, and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are his own family.
  • Jer 12:6 : 6 As a matter of fact, even your own brothers and the members of your own family have betrayed you too. Even they have plotted to do away with you. So do not trust them even when they say kind things to you.
  • Ps 15:3 : 3 He does not slander, or do harm to others, or insult his neighbor.
  • Gen 27:35-36 : 35 But Isaac replied,“Your brother came in here deceitfully and took away your blessing.” 36 Esau exclaimed,“‘Jacob is the right name for him! He has tripped me up two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!” Then he asked,“Have you not kept back a blessing for me?”
  • Gen 32:28 : 28 “No longer will your name be Jacob,” the man told him,“but Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have prevailed.”
  • Prov 10:18 : 18 The one who conceals hatred utters lies, and the one who spreads slander is certainly a fool.
  • Prov 25:18 : 18 Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow, so is the one who testifies against his neighbor as a false witness.
  • Ps 55:11-12 : 11 Disaster is within it; violence and deceit do not depart from its public square. 12 Indeed, it is not an enemy who insults me, or else I could bear it; it is not one who hates me who arrogantly taunts me, or else I could hide from him.
  • Prov 6:16 : 16 There are six things that the LORD hates, even seven things that are an abomination to him:
  • Prov 6:19 : 19 a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who spreads discord among family members.
  • Ezek 22:9 : 9 Slanderous men shed blood within you. Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; they commit obscene acts among you.
  • Matt 10:17 : 17 Beware of people, because they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues.
  • Matt 10:21 : 21 “Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against parents and have them put to death.
  • Matt 10:34-35 : 34 Not Peace, but a Sword“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword! 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
  • Luke 21:16 : 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will have some of you put to death.
  • 1 Thess 4:6 : 6 In this matter no one should violate the rights of his brother or take advantage of him, because the Lord is the avenger in all these cases, as we also told you earlier and warned you solemnly.
  • 1 Pet 2:1-2 : 1 So get rid of all evil and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 And yearn like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation,