13 Bible Verses about Asceticism, People Practicing

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the sons of Israel and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to dedicate themselves unto the LORD, they shall separate themselves from wine and strong drink and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall they drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes or dried.read more.
All the days of their Nazariteship they shall eat nothing that is made of the wine vine, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of their Nazariteship no razor shall come upon their head, until the days are fulfilled of their separation unto the LORD; they shall be holy and shall let the locks of the hair of their head grow. All the days that they separate themselves unto the LORD they shall come in unto no dead body. They shall not make themselves unclean for their father or for their mother, for their brother or for their sister, when they die because the consecration of their God is upon their head. All the days of their Nazariteship they are holy unto the LORD.

Now keep thyself and drink no wine nor strong drink and eat no unclean thing. For thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

Therefore, he told her all his heart and said unto her, A razor has never come upon my head, for I am a Nazarite of God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.

And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

John was clothed with camel's hair and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he ate locusts and wild honey

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a devil.

For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and ye say, He has a demon.

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but thy disciples do not fast?

And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees did fast and therefore came and said unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?

Then they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but thine eat and drink?

I fast two meals every sabbath; I give tithes of all that I possess.

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, But the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the day of reconciliations; it shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls and offer an offering made on fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no work in this same day; for it is a day of reconciliations, to reconcile you before the LORD your God.read more.
For every person that shall not afflict themselves in that same day, shall be cut off from among his people. And any person that does any work in that same day, the same person will I destroy from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your ages in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of sabbaths, and ye shall afflict your souls, beginning in the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening unto evening, shall ye rest on your sabbath.

And it came to pass in the fourth year of King Darius that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu; when they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech and their men, to pray before the LORD and to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of the hosts and to the prophets, saying, Should we weep in the fifth month? Should we do abstinence as we have done these so many years?read more.
Then the word of the LORD of the hosts came unto me, saying, Speak unto all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?