33 Bible Verses about Fasting, Nature Of

Then Ezra got up from in front of the temple of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While he stayed there, he did not eat food or drink water, for he was in mourning over the infidelity of the exiles.

So I turned my attention to the Lord God to implore him by prayer and requests, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

When morning came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul.

Peninnah would behave this way year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the Lord's house, Peninnah would upset her so that she would weep and refuse to eat.

Then the king departed to his palace. But he spent the night without eating, and no diversions were brought to him. He was unable to sleep.

It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening until evening you must observe your Sabbath."

So all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel. They wept and sat there before the Lord; they did not eat anything that day until evening. They offered up burnt sacrifices and tokens of peace to the Lord.

They lamented and wept and fasted until evening because Saul, his son Jonathan, the Lord's people, and the house of Israel had fallen by the sword.

For three days he could not see, and he neither ate nor drank anything.

They took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh; then they fasted for seven days.

all the warriors went and recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their remains under the oak tree in Jabesh and fasted for seven days.

Then David prayed to God for the child and fasted. He would even go and spend the night lying on the ground. The elders of his house stood over him and tried to lift him from the ground, but he was unwilling, and refused to eat food with them. On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, "While the child was still alive he would not listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!"read more.
When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he realized that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, "Is the child dead?" They replied, "Yes, he's dead." So David got up from the ground, bathed, put on oil, and changed his clothes. He went to the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then, when he entered his palace, he requested that food be brought to him, and he ate.

So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread, and he did not drink water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

So he got up and ate and drank. That meal gave him the strength to travel forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

After he fasted forty days and forty nights he was famished.

where for forty days he endured temptations from the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were completed, he was famished.

"This is to be a perpetual statute for you. In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves and do no work of any kind, both the native citizen and the foreigner who resides in your midst, for on this day atonement is to be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins; you must be clean before the Lord. It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves. It is a perpetual statute.

The Lord spoke to Moses: "The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must humble yourselves and present a gift to the Lord. You must not do any work on this particular day, because it is a day of atonement to make atonement for yourselves before the Lord your God.read more.
Indeed, any person who does not behave with humility on this particular day will be cut off from his people. As for any person who does any work on this particular day, I will exterminate that person from the midst of his people! You must not do any work. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all the places where you live. It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening until evening you must observe your Sabbath."

"'On the tenth day of this seventh month you are to have a holy assembly. You must humble yourselves; you must not do any work on it.

Since considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous because the fast was already over, Paul advised them,

"The Lord who rules over all says, 'The fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will become joyful and happy, pleasant feasts for the house of Judah, so love truth and peace.'

Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech and their companions to seek the Lord's favor by asking both the priests of the temple of the Lord who rules over all and the prophets, "Should we weep in the fifth month, fasting as we have done over the years?" The word of the Lord who rules over all then came to me,read more.
"Speak to all the people and priests of the land as follows: 'When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months through all these seventy years, did you truly fast for me -- for me, indeed?

The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers -- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.'

Jehoshaphat was afraid, so he decided to seek the Lord's advice. He decreed that all Judah should observe a fast.

Now the men of Israel were hard pressed that day, for Saul had made the army agree to this oath: "Cursed be the man who eats food before evening! I will get my vengeance on my enemies!" So no one in the army ate anything.

But the prophet said to the king, "Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I could not go with you and eat and drink in this place. For the Lord gave me strict orders, 'Do not eat or drink there and do not go home the way you came.'"

This is what she wrote: "Observe a time of fasting and seat Naboth in front of the people.

All the people living in Jerusalem and all the people who came into Jerusalem from the towns of Judah came to observe a fast before the Lord. The fast took place in the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah.

As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, "Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense and have gone without food; you have eaten nothing.

in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in troubles, in sleepless nights, in hunger,

in hard work and toil, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, many times without food, in cold and without enough clothing.

When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

She had lived as a widow since then for eighty-four years. She never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.