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In the King James, Prov. 18:24 reads "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." This appears to be an admonition for the reader to be friendly: in order to have friends, one must be friendly.

In the ESV, Prov. 18:24 reads "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." This seems to be a warning against having too many friends.

How should the reader understand these two translations? Is there a contradiction presented here? What causes the man of many companions to come into ruin?

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And then there's the JPS: "There are friends that one hath to his own hurt; but there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." (This seems plausible from the Hebrew, but I am not an expert.) There's definitely no quantifier in the Hebrew (e.g. "many"). Source: mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2818.htm – Monica Cellio Nov 25 '11 at 19:00
I suppose the KJV only looks like 'in order to have friends, one must be friendly' -- in the plain language of it though, if a man who has friends must show himself friendly, presumably there's a reason why he must and a consequence of what happens if he doesn't. (Presumably, offending any could cause them all to turn against you--except perhaps those 'sticking closer than a brother'.) – Muke Tever Nov 26 '11 at 16:31
I actually did a short paper on this verse in seminary. I'll post an answer here in a while... it needs a bit of a rewrite for use here. – dtjohnso Dec 6 '11 at 16:08

4 Answers

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The last phrase does make it pretty clear about the number of friends, when it says 'there is "a" friend'. One friend, or 'a' friend that is truer than bother is always better than many untrue friends. The the number does mean something, in my opinion.......

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But what about the other friends, as asked in the question? Are they a means to demonstrate one's friend-worthiness, or are they a trap that leads to ruin? – Monica Cellio May 30 at 14:52
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The JPS translation is clearest here, as Monica Cellio pointed out in the comments, so I’ll use it to illustrate my answer: “There are friends that one hath to his own hurt; but there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”

The original Hebrew is indispensable here: “אִישׁ רֵעִים, לְהִתְרֹעֵעַ; וְיֵשׁ אֹהֵב, דָּבֵק מֵאָח׃” Ish re‘im l’hithro‘e‘a; v’yesh ’ohev davek me’aḥ. In the first half of the verse, the word for used for “friend” shares a root with the word for ruin/hurt/evil, and the author is using this fact to make a pun.

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And this pun is apparently what tripped up the KJV translators (and/or Jerome)... Is lehithro‘ea‘ a verb from ra‘, meaning "come to evil", or from rea‘, meaning "to behave in a friendly manner"? The context is not super clear either way but I think the JPS and ESV have it best. [By the way @J.C. Salomon since the last vowel is a patah genuva technically the ‘ayin is pronounced after it l’hithro‘ea‘ rather than l’hithro‘e‘a. Pedantry, I know]. – Noam Sienna May 31 at 13:41
@NoamSienna, good point on the pronunciation. I still need to indicate diaeresis on the last vowel; l’hithro‘eä‘, perhaps? – J. C. Salomon May 31 at 14:35
BTW, the JPS seems to translate “אִישׁ רֵעִים” (ish re‘im) as if it read “יֵשׁ רֵעִים” (yesh re‘im). Perhaps it would be better translated, “A man [with] friends will come to harm, but….” Needs more research. – J. C. Salomon May 31 at 14:39
Interesting observation! I don't have my BHS handy but maybe there's a manuscript variant? – Noam Sienna Jun 2 at 3:42
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The KJV translators often consulted the Latin Vulgate. This verse looks like one of those places. The ESV is closer to the Hebrew text than the KJV. Interestingly the Septuagint doesn't appear to have a translation of this verse. I would go with the ESV here as the more authentic reading, but I wouldn't say it is adamant that having too many friends means ruin. Instead, there is a contrast between a friend who sticks closer than a brother and many who could bring problems. It would be better to have this friend than to have just a bunch of friends.

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I don't think this verse is wisdom for us on how many friends we should have (necessarily), but in choosing our friends. I think the first part of this verse is telling us to be aware of people that have many friends; a popular person. We should make sure that they prove themselves before you would consider them a good friend, because more than likely they are going to let you down. The second part of the verse could be telling us to not choose our friends based on their popularity, but on how loyal they are; those that stick close through thick and thin. This coincides with the 3 translations noted. Also note the Amplified version:

The man of many friends [a friend of all the world] will prove himself a bad friend, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

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