27 Bible Verses about Fasting, Practice Of
Most Relevant Verses
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."
"Call with [the] throat; you must not keep back! lift up your voice like trumpet, and declare to my people their rebellion, and to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me day [by] day, and they desire the knowledge of my ways like a nation that {practiced} righteousness, and had not forsaken the judgment of its God; they ask me for {righteous judgments}, they desire the closeness of God. '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!read more.
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? 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}.
And the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying, "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]?read more.
[Are] not [these] the words that Yahweh proclaimed {through} the former prophets, when Jerusalem and {its surrounding towns} were inhabited and at ease, and the Negev and the Shephelah were inhabited?'"
"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! But [when] you are fasting, {put olive oil on your head} and wash your face so that you will not be seen by people as fasting, but to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
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."
Now the men of Israel were hard pressed on that day, because Saul had made the army take an oath, saying, "Cursed be the man who eats [any] food until evening, when I will have avenged myself on my enemies!" So none of the army tasted [any] food. (Now all [the people of] the land used to go into the forest, for there was honey on the surface of the ground.) When the army came to the forest, look! [There was] honey flowing, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the army was afraid of the solemn oath.read more.
However, Jonathan had not heard about the oath of his father with the army, so he extended the end of the staff which was in his hand, and he dipped it into the honeycomb. Then he put his hand to his mouth and his eyes gleamed. Then a man from the army informed [him] and said, "Your father made the army swear a solemn [oath], saying, 'Cursed be the man who eats food today,'" so the army [is] exhausted. Then Jonathan said, "My father has brought trouble on the land! See now that my eyes have brightened because I have tasted a little of this honey. {How much more could have been done} if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder of their enemies that they had found! For now the loss among [the] Philistines [is] not great."
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing [was] sackcloth. I weakened my soul with fasting, and my prayer {returned to me unanswered}.
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth over his flesh, fasted, lay in the sackcloth, and went about dejectedly. Then the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, "Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring disaster in his days. I will bring the disaster on his house in the days of his son."
I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava to humble ourselves before our God in order to seek from him a safe journey for us, our children, and our possessions.
So they gathered to Mizpah and drew water and poured [it] out before Yahweh. They fasted on that day and said there, "We have sinned against Yahweh!" So Samuel judged the {Israelites} at Mizpah.
On the twenty-fourth day of this month the {Israelites} gathered in fasting, in sackcloths, and with soil on them. Those of the seed of Israel separated themselves from all of the foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. They stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of Yahweh their God for a fourth part of the day, and for a fourth they were confessing and worshiping Yahweh their God.
Gird yourselves and lament, O priests! Wail, ministers of [the] altar! Come spend the night in sackcloth, ministers of my God, because offering and libation are withheld from the house of your God. Solemnize a fast! Call an assembly! Gather [the] elders, all [of] the inhabitants of the land [in] the house of Yahweh your God, and cry out to Yahweh.
"And even now," {declares} Yahweh, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, and weeping, and wailing." Rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to Yahweh your God, because he [is] gracious and compassionate, {slow to anger} and great in loyal love, and relenting from harm. Who knows [whether] he will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, an offering and a libation, for Yahweh your God?read more.
Blow [the] trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call an assembly;
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.
I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava to humble ourselves before our God in order to seek from him a safe journey for us, our children, and our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for troops and horses to protect us from enemies on the way because we said to the king, "the hand of our God is favorable to all who seek him, but his strength and anger are against all who forsake them." So we fasted and sought our God for this and he responded to our prayer.
Then I turned my face to the Lord God to seek [him] [by] prayer and pleas for mercy, in fasting and [in] sackcloth and ashes.
And he said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here [to] there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
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 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!"
Then, [after they] had fasted and prayed and placed [their] hands on them, they sent [them] away.
And [when they] had appointed elders for them in every church, [after] praying with fasting, they entrusted them to the Lord, in whom they had believed.
The husband must fulfill his obligation to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but her husband [does]. And likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but his wife [does]. Do not defraud one another, except perhaps by agreement, for a time, in order that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and [then] you should be {together} again, lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self control.
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."
