34 Bible Verses about Abstinence as a discipline

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the {Israelites}, saying, 'You must not eat any fat of ox, or sheep, or goat; and a dead body's fat or mangled carcass's fat may be used for any {purpose}, but you certainly must not eat it.read more.
When anyone eats fat from the domestic animal from which he presented an offering made by fire for Yahweh, then that person who ate shall be cut off from his people. And in any of your dwellings, you must not eat any blood {belonging to} birds or domestic animals. Any person who eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.'"

"You [are] children of Yahweh your God; [therefore] you must not gash yourself, and {you must not make your forehead bald} for [the] dead. For you [are] a people holy to Yahweh your God, and you Yahweh has chosen to be a treasured possession from [among] all [of] the peoples that are on the surface of the earth. You shall not eat any detestable thing.read more.
These are the animals you may eat: ox, {sheep, goats}, deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep. And any animal having a split hoof and [so] {a dividing of the hoof into two parts} {and that chews the cud} among the animals--that [animal] you may eat. Only these you may not eat from {those chewing the cud} and from {those having a division of the hoof}: the camel and the hare and the coney, because {they chew the cud}, but they [do] not divide the hoof; they are [therefore] unclean for you. And [also] the pig {because it has a division of the hoof} {but does not chew the cud}; it [is] unclean for you; from their meat you shall not eat, and you shall not touch their {carcasses}. "This [is what] you shall eat from all that [is] in the water: {everything} {that has fins and scales} you may eat. But {anything that does not have} fins and scales, you may not eat, [for] it [is] unclean for you. "All [of] [the] birds [that] [are] clean you may eat. Now these [are] the ones you shall not eat {any of them}: the eagle and the vulture and the short-toed eagle, and the red kite and the black kite or {any kind of falcon}, and any [kind] of crow according to its kind, and the {ostrich} and the short-eared owl and the seagull and the hawk according to its kind, the little owl and the great owl and the barn owl, and the desert owl and the carrion vulture and the cormorant, and the stork and the heron according to its kind and the hoopoe and the bat. And [also] all [of] {the winged insects}; they [are] unclean for you; you shall not eat [them]. You may eat any clean bird. "You shall not eat any carcass; you may give it to the alien who [is] in your {towns}, and he may eat it, or you may sell [it] to a foreigner, for you [are] a holy people for Yahweh your God; you may not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

And the next day, [as] they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray [at] about the sixth hour. And he became hungry and wanted to eat. But [while] they were preparing [the food], a trance came over him. And he saw heaven opened and an object something like a large sheet coming down, being let down to the earth by its four corners,read more.
in which were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth and birds of the sky. And a voice came to him, "Get up, Peter, slaughter and eat!" But Peter said, "Certainly not, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common and unclean!"

And Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and he consecrated the people, and they washed their clothes. And he said to the people, "Be ready {for the third day}. Do not go near to a woman."

"And this shall be {a lasting statute} for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you must deny yourselves and you must not do any work, [whether] the native or the alien who is dwelling in your midst, because on this day he shall make atonement for you to cleanse you; you must be clean from all your sins {before} Yahweh. It [is] {a Sabbath of complete rest} for you, and you shall deny yourselves--[it is] {a lasting statute}.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the {Israelites} and say to them, 'When a man or a woman takes a special vow, a vow of a {Nazirite}, to keep separate for Yahweh, he will abstain from wine and fermented drink; he will not drink wine vinegar or vinegar of fermented drink; he will not drink the fruit juice of grapes or eat fresh or dry grapes.read more.
All the days of his separation you will not eat from anything that is made from the grapevine, from sour grapes to the skin [of grapes].

The {Israelites} will pay attention to the Sabbath [in order] to fulfill the Sabbath throughout their generations [as] a lasting covenant. It [is] a sign between me and the {Israelites} forever, because [in] six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh he ceased and recovered."

" 'And on the tenth of this seventh month you will have a holy convocation, and {you will afflict yourselves}; you will not do any work.

So then, be careful and do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean,

Ezra rose from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. He did not eat food nor drink water because he was mourning over the sin of the exiles.

They replied to me, "The survivors in the province who have survived the captivity are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned in the fire." When I heard these words, I sat and wept and mourned for days, and I was fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.

"And even now," {declares} Yahweh, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, and weeping, and wailing."

And the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth--from the greatest of them {to the least important}.

Now there were prophets and teachers in Antioch in the church that was there: Barnabas, and Simeon (who was called Niger), and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen (a close friend of Herod the tetrarch), and Saul. And [while] they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart now for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil, and [after he] had fasted forty days and forty nights, then he was hungry.

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days, and [when] they were completed, he was hungry.

Then the disciples of John approached him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "{The bridegroom's attendants} are not able to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them. But days are coming when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

And John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and said to him, "{Why} do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "The {bridegroom's attendants} are not able to fast while the bridegroom is with them, [are they]? As long a time [as] they have the bridegroom with them, they are not able to fast. But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

And they said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and make prayers--likewise also the [disciples] of the Pharisees--but yours are eating and drinking!" So he said to them, "You are not able to make the {bridegroom's attendants} fast as long as the bridegroom is with them, [are you]? But days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days."

And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher (she was advanced {in years}, having lived with [her] husband seven years {after her marriage}, and herself [as] a widow up to eighty-four years) who did not depart from the temple with fastings and prayers, serving night and day.

And he was {unable to see} [for] three days, and he did not eat or drink.

The one who is intent on the day is intent on [it] for the Lord, and the one who eats eats for the Lord, because he is thankful to God, and the one who does not eat does not eat for the Lord, and he is thankful to God.

And he said to the people, "Be ready {for the third day}. Do not go near to a woman."

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

And summoning the crowd together with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

And he said to [them] all, "If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.

Let us live decently, as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and licentiousness, not in strife and jealousy.

Therefore I conclude we should not cause difficulty for those from among the Gentiles who turn to God, but we should write a letter to them to abstain from the pollution of idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood.

[It is] good not to eat meat or to drink wine or [to do anything] by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is weakened.

"Whenever you fast, do not be sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unrecognizable in order that they may be seen fasting by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full!

'Why do we fast, and you do not see [it]? We humiliate our soul, and you do not notice [it]?' Look! You find delight on the day of your fast, and you oppress all your workers! Look! You fast to quarrel and strife, and to strike with a {wicked fist}. You shall not fast as [you do] {today}, to {make your voice heard} on the height. Is [the] fast I choose like this, a day for humankind to humiliate {himself}? To bow his head like a reed, and {make} his bed [on] sackcloth and ashes; you call this a fast and a day of pleasure to Yahweh?read more.
Is this not [the] fast I choose: to release [the] bonds of injustice, to untie [the] ropes of [the] yoke, and to let [the] oppressed go free, and {tear} every yoke to pieces? [Is it] not to break your bread for the hungry? You must bring {home} [the] poor, [the] homeless. When you see [the] naked, you must cover him, and you must not hide yourself from your {relatives}.

Thus says Yahweh concerning this people: "They have loved so much to wander, they have not spared their feet. Therefore Yahweh is not favorable to them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins." So Yahweh said to me, "You must not pray for this people, for [their] happiness. Although they fast, I [am] not listening to their cry of entreaty. And although they present burnt offering and grain offering, I [am] not favorable to them. But by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague, I [am] about to destroy them."

And [the people of] Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, and their men, to entreat {the favor} of Yahweh, saying to the {priests of the house of Yahweh of hosts} and to the prophets, "Should I mourn in the fifth month and keep myself separate as I have done for these many years?" And the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying,read more.
"Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: 'When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me? And when you eat and drink, are you not eating and drinking [for yourselves]?

The Pharisee stood [and] prayed these [things] with reference to himself: 'God, I give thanks to you that I am not like other people--swindlers, unrighteous [people], adulterers, or even like this tax collector! I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all that I get.'