27 Bible Verses about Fasting, Practice Of

Then the LORD said unto me, Do not pray for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by sword and by famine and by pestilence.

Cry aloud, do not hold back; lift up thy voice like a shofar and preach to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sin. That they seek me daily and want to know my ways, as people that do righteousness and have not forsaken the rights of their God: they ask me of the rights of righteousness and desire to approach God. Why have we fasted, they say, and thou dost not see? why have we afflicted our soul, and thou dost take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure and exact your own estates.read more.
Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the LORD? Is not rather the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the ties of oppression, to release into freedom those who are broken, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to share thy bread with the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out into thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou not hide thyself from thy brother?

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? And when ye ate, and when ye drank, did ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?read more.
Are these not the words which the LORD has published by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and quiet and the cities thereof round about her and when the south and the plain were inhabited?

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They already have their reward. But thou, when thou dost fast, anoint thine head, and wash thy face that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father, who sees in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but thy disciples do not fast? And Jesus said unto them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then they shall 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? And Jesus said unto them, Can those who are in 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 away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.

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? And he said unto them, Can ye make the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

But the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man that eats any food until evening that I may be avenged on my enemies. So none of the people tasted any food. And the army of all the land came to a wood, and there was honey upon the ground. And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped, but no man put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.read more.
But Jonathan had not heard when his father charged the people with the oath, therefore, he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in a honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes were enlightened. Then one of the people spoke and said, Thy father straitly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man that eats any food this day. And the people were faint. Then Jonathan said, My father has troubled the land. See, I pray you, how my eyes have been enlightened because I tasted a little of this honey. How much more if haply the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found? Would there not have been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer rose up in my bosom.

And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted and slept in sackcloth and went softly. Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah, the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his son's days I will bring the evil upon his house.

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance.

When I wept with fasting of my soul, thou hast been a reproach unto me.

And they gathered together in Mizpeh and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted on that day and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.

Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month, the sons of Israel were assembled with fasting and with sackcloth and earth upon them. And the seed of Israel had separated themselves from all strangers and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed and worshipped the LORD their God.

Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the present and the drink offering is taken away from the house of your God. Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the earth into the house of the LORD your God and cry unto the LORD.

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn unto me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in mercy, and he does repent of chastisement. Who knows if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him even a present and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?read more.
Blow the shofar in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of the heavens

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to defend us against the enemy in the way because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all those that seek him for good; but his power and his wrath is against all those that forsake him. So we fasted and besought our God for this, and he was intreated of us.

And I turned my face unto the Lord God, seeking him in prayer and supplication, in fasting and sackcloth, and ashes:

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unfaithfulness; for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove from here to yonder place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

and she was a widow eighty-four years, who departed not from the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.

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?

And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they released them.

And having ordained elders for them in every congregation and having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed.

Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife does not have authority of her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband does not have authority of his own body, but the wife. Do not defraud one another, except it be with mutual consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again, that Satan not tempt you for your incontinency.

As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work unto which I have called them.