34 Bible Verses about Abstinence as a discipline
Most Relevant Verses
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, "Speak unto the children of Israel and say, 'Ye shall eat no manner fat of oxen, sheep or goats: neverthelater, the fat of the beast that dieth alone and the fat of that which is torn with wild beasts, may be occupied in all manner uses: but ye shall in no wise eat of it.read more.
For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast of which men bring an offering unto the LORD, that soul that eateth it shall perish from his people. Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, wheresoever ye dwell, whether it be of fowl or of beast. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood the same soul shall perish from his people.'"
Ye are the children of the LORD your God; cut not yourselves nor make you any baldness between the eyes for any man's death. For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a several people unto himself, of all the nations that are upon the earth. Ye shall eat no manner of abomination.read more.
These are the beasts which ye shall eat of: oxen, sheep and goats, hart, roe and bugle, hart goat, unicorn, origen and camelion. And all beasts that cleave the hoof, and slit it into two claws and chew the cud, them ye shall eat. Nevertheless, these ye shall not eat of them that chew cud and of them that divide and cleave the hoof: the camel, the hare and the coney. For they chew cud, but divide not the hoof: and therefore are unclean unto you: and also the swine, for though he divide the hoof, yet he cheweth not cud, and therefore is unclean unto you. Ye shall not eat of the flesh of them nor touch the dead carcasses of them. These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: All that have fins and scales. And whatsoever hath not fins and scales, of that ye may not eat, for that is unclean unto you. Of all clean birds ye shall eat, but these are they of which ye may not eat: the eagle, the goshawk, the cormorant, the ixion, the vulture, the kite and her kind, and all kind of ravens, the ostrich, the nightcrow, the cuckoo, the sparrowhawk and all her kind, the little owl, the great owl, the back, the bittern, the pye, the stork, the heron, the jay in his kind, the lapwing, the swallow. And all creeping fowls are unclean unto you and may not be eaten of; but of all clean fowls ye may well eat. Ye shall eat of nothing that dieth alone: But thou mayest give it unto the stranger that is in thy city that he eat it, or mayest sell it unto an Alien. For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
On the morrow as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went upon the top of the house to pray, about the sixth hour. Then waxed he a hungered, and would have eaten. But while they made ready for him, he fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel come down unto him, as it had been a great sheet, knit at the four corners, and was let down to the earth,read more.
wherein were all manner of four footed beasts of the earth and vermin and worms, and fouls of the air. And there came a voice to him, "Rise, Peter. Kill and eat." But Peter said, "God forbid Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean."
And Moses went down from the mount unto the people and sanctified them, and they washed their clothes. And he said unto the people, "Be ready against the third day, and see that ye come not at your wives."
"And it shall be an ordinance forever unto you. And even in the tenth day of the seventh month, ye shall humble your souls and shall do no work at all: whether it be one of yourselves or a stranger that sojourneth among you, for that day shall an atonement be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins before the LORD, and ye shall be clean. It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall humble your souls, and it shall be an ordinance forever.
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, "Speak unto children of Israel and say unto them, 'When either man or woman appointeth to vow a vow of abstinence, for to abstain unto the LORD, he shall abstain from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine or of strong drink, nor drink whatsoever is pressed out of grapes: and shall eat no fresh grapes neither yet dried, as long as his abstinence endureth.read more.
Moreover he shall eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, no not so much as the kernels or the husk of the grape.
Wherefore let the children of Israel keep the Sabbath, that they observe it throughout their generations, that it be an covenant forever. For it shall be a sign between me, and the children of Israel for ever. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'"
And the tenth day of that same seventh month shall be a holy feast unto you, and ye shall humble your souls and shall do no manner work therein.
And Ezra stood up before the house of God, and went in to the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib. And when he came thither, he ate no bread, nor drank water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been in captivity.
And they said unto me, "The remnant of the captivity are there in the land in great misfortune and rebuke. The walls of Jerusalem are broken down, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire." When I heard these words, I sat me down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,
And now therefore saith the LORD: Turn to me with all your hearts, in fasting and lamentation.
And the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed fasting, and arrayed themselves in sackcloth, as well the great as the small of them.
There were at Antioch, in the congregation, certain prophets and teachers: as Barnabas and Symeon called Niger; And Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, Herod the tetrarch's nurse-fellow, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted; The holy ghost said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them."
Then was Jesus led away of the spirit into wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward a hungered.
Jesus then full of the holy ghost, returned from Jordan, and was carried of the spirit into a wilderness, and was forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days ate he nothing: And when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
Then came the disciples of John to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?" And Jesus said unto them, "Can the wedding children mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The time will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees did fast, and they therefore came and said unto him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, and thy disciples fast not?" And Jesus said unto them, "Can the children of a wedding fast, while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them and then shall they fast in those days.
Then they said unto him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and pray: and the disciples of the Pharisees also: and thine eat and drink?" And he said unto them, "Can ye make the Children of the wedding fast, as long as the bridegroom is present with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them: then shall they fast in those days."
And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher: which was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity. And she had been a widow about four score and four years of age, which went never out of the temple, but served God there with fasting and prayer night and day.
He that observeth one day more than another, doth it for the Lord's pleasure. And he that observeth not one day more than another, doth it to please the Lord, also. He that eateth, doth it to please the lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, eateth not to please the Lord withal, and giveth God thanks.
And he said unto the people, "Be ready against the third day, and see that ye come not at your wives."
Jesus then said to his disciples. "If any man will follow me, let him forsake himself, and take up his cross and follow me.
And he called the people unto him, with his disciples also, and said unto them, "Whosoever will follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
And he said to them all, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross on him daily, and follow me.
Let us walk honestly as it were in the daylight: not in eating and drinking: neither in chambering and wantonness: neither in strife and envying:
Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them which from among the gentiles are turned to God: but that we write unto them, that they abstain themselves from filthiness of images, from fornication, from strangled, and from blood.
It is good neither to eat flesh, neither to drink wine, neither anything, whereby thy brother stumbleth, either falleth, or is made weak.
"Moreover, when ye fast, be not sad as the hypocrites are: for they disfigure their faces, that they might be seen of men how they fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
They seek of me righteous judgments, and will draw nigh unto God. Why have we fasted and thou hast not looked upon it? Have humbled our souls, and thou wouldest not wit it? Behold when ye fast, ye can find your own lusts, and can call cruelly on all your debtors. Ye fast to law and strive and to smite with fist wickedly. Fast not as ye now do, to make your voice to be heard upon high. Should it be such a manner of fast that I should chose? A day that a man should hurt his soul in? Or to bow down his head like a bulrush? Or to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Shouldest thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable unto the LORD?read more.
Or is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? To loose wicked bonds, and to unbind bundles of oppression? And to let the bruised go free? And that ye should break all manner yokes? Yea, and to break the bread to the hungry; and to bring the poor that are harborless unto house; and when thou seest a naked, that thou clothe him and that thou shouldest withdraw thyself from helping thine own flesh?
Then spake the LORD, concerning this people that have pleasure to go so nimbly with their feet, and leave not off, and therefore displease the LORD; insomuch that he will now bring again to remembrance all their misdeeds, and punish all their sins. Yea, even thus said the LORD unto me, "Thou shalt not pray to do this people good. For though they fast, I will not hear their prayers. And though they offer burnt offerings and sacrifices, yet will not I accept them. For I will destroy them with the sword, hunger, and pestilence."
What time as Sharezer and Regemmelech and the men that were with them, sent unto Bethel for to pray before the LORD: and that they should say unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of Hosts, and to the prophets, "Should I weep in the fifth month, and abstain, as I have done now certain years?" Then came the word of the LORD of Hosts unto me, saying,read more.
"Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, and say, 'When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, now this seventy years, did ye fast unto me? When ye ate also and drank, did ye not eat and drink for your own selves?
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are; extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithe of all that I possess.'
