27 Bible Verses about Fasting, Reasons For

And all Jabesh-Gilead hear of all that the Philistines have done to Saul, and all the men of valour rise and bear away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and bring them in to Jabesh, and bury their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fast seven days.

And they hear regarding it -- the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead -- that which the Philistines have done to Saul, and all the men of valour arise, and go all the night, and take the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, from the wall of Beth-Shan, and come in to Jabesh, and burn them there, and they take their bones, and bury them under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and fast seven days.

And David taketh hold on his garments, and rendeth them, and also all the men who are with him, and they mourn, and weep, and fast till the evening, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of Jehovah, and for the house of Israel, because they have fallen by the sword.

And David saith unto Joab, and unto all the people who are with him, 'Rend your garments, and gird on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner;' and king David is going after the bier. And they bury Abner in Hebron, and the king lifteth up his voice, and weepeth at the grave of Abner, and all the people weep; and the king lamenteth for Abner, and saith: -- 'As the death of a fool doth Abner die?read more.
Thy hands not bound, And thy feet to fetters not brought nigh! As one falling before sons of evil -- Thou hast fallen!' and all the people add to weep over him. And all the people come to cause David to eat bread while yet day, and David sweareth, saying, 'Thus doth God to me, and thus He doth add, for -- before the going in of the sun, I taste no bread or any other thing.'

And so he doth year by year, from the time of her going up into the house of Jehovah, so it provoketh her, and she weepeth, and doth not eat.

And Jonathan riseth from the table in the heat of anger, and hath not eaten food on the second day of the new moon, for he hath been grieved for David, for his father put him to shame.

and Ahab cometh in unto his house, sulky and wroth, because of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite hath spoken unto him when he saith, 'I do not give to thee the inheritance of my fathers,' and he lieth down on his bed, and turneth round his face, and hath not eaten bread. And Jezebel his wife cometh in unto him, and speaketh unto him, 'What is this? -- thy spirit sulky, and thou art not eating bread!' And he saith unto her, 'Because I speak unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and say to him, Give to me thy vineyard for money, or if thou desire, I give to thee a vineyard in its stead; and he saith, I do not give to thee my vineyard.'

My knees have been feeble from fasting, And my flesh hath failed of fatness.

Then hath the king gone to his palace, and he hath passed the night fasting, and dahavan have not been brought up before him, and his sleep hath fled from off him.

And till the day was about to be, Paul was calling upon all to partake of nourishment, saying, 'Fourteen days to-day, waiting, ye continue fasting, having taken nothing,

and Samuel saith, 'Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I pray for you unto Jehovah.' And they are gathered to Mizpeh, and draw water, and pour out before Jehovah, and fast on that day, and say there, 'We have sinned against Jehovah;' and Samuel judgeth the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.

And in the twenty and fourth day of this month have the sons of Israel been gathered, with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth upon them; and the seed of Israel are separated from all sons of a stranger, and stand and confess concerning their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers, and rise up on their station, and read in the book of the law of Jehovah their God a fourth of the day, and a fourth they are confessing and bowing themselves to Jehovah their God.

and I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes. And I pray to Jehovah my God, and confess, and say: 'I beseech Thee, O Lord God, the great and the fearful, keeping the covenant and the kindness to those loving Him, and to those keeping His commands; we have sinned, and done perversely, and done wickedly, and rebelled, to turn aside from Thy commands, and from Thy judgments:read more.
and we have not hearkened unto Thy servants, the prophets, who have spoken in Thy name unto our kings, our heads, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

And while I am speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and causing my supplication to fall before Jehovah my God, for the holy mount of my God,

Gird, and lament, ye priests, Howl, ye ministrants of the altar, Come in, lodge in sackcloth, ministrants of my God, For withheld from the house of your God hath been present and libation. Sanctify a fast, proclaim a restraint, Gather the elders -- all the inhabitants of the land, Into the house of Jehovah your God,

And also now -- an affirmation of Jehovah, Turn ye back unto Me with all your heart, And with fasting, and with weeping, And with lamentation. And rend your heart, and not your garments, And turn back unto Jehovah your God, For gracious and merciful is He, Slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, And He hath repented concerning the evil. Who knoweth -- He doth turn back, Yea -- He hath repented, And He hath left behind Him a blessing, A present and libation of Jehovah your God?read more.
Blow ye a trumpet in Zion, Sanctify a fast -- proclaim a restraint.

And the men of Nineveh believe in God, and proclaim a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even unto their least, seeing the word doth come unto the king of Nineveh, and he riseth from his throne, and removeth his honourable robe from off him, and spreadeth out sackcloth, and sitteth on the ashes, and he crieth and saith in Nineveh by a decree of the king and his great ones, saying, 'Man and beast, herd and flock -- let them not taste anything, let them not feed, even water let them not drink;read more.
and cover themselves with sackcloth let man and beast, and let them call unto God mightily, and let them turn back each from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knoweth? He doth turn back, and God hath repented, and hath turned back from the heat of His anger, and we do not perish.'

And Nathan goeth unto his house, and Jehovah smiteth the lad, whom the wife of Uriah hath born to David, and it is incurable; and David seeketh God for the youth, and David keepeth a fast, and hath gone in and lodged, and lain on the earth. And the elders of his house rise against him, to raise him up from the earth, and he hath not been willing, nor hath he eaten with them bread;

And they come in and declare to Jehoshaphat, saying, 'Come against thee hath a great multitude from beyond the sea, from Aram, and lo, they are in Hazezon-Tamar -- it is En-Gedi.' And Jehoshaphat feareth, and setteth his face to seek to Jehovah, and proclaimeth a fast over all Judah; and Judah is gathered to inquire of Jehovah; also, from all the cities of Judah they have come in to seek Jehovah.

And I proclaim there a fast, by the river Ahava, to afflict ourselves before our God, to seek from Him a right way for us, and for our infants, and for all our substance,

And I -- in their sickness my clothing is sackcloth, I have humbled with fastings my soul, And my prayer unto my bosom returneth. As if a friend, as if my brother, I walked habitually, As a mourner for a mother, Mourning I have bowed down.

And all the sons of Israel go up, even all the people, and come in to Beth-El, and weep, and sit there before Jehovah, and fast on that day till the evening, and cause to ascend burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before Jehovah. And the sons of Israel ask of Jehovah, -- and there is the ark of the covenant of God in those days, and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, is standing before it in those days -- saying, 'Do I add again to go out to battle with the sons of Benjamin, my brother, or do I cease?' And Jehovah saith, 'Go up, for to-morrow I give him into thy hand.'

'In my going up into the mount to receive the tables of stone (tables of the covenant which Jehovah hath made with you), and I abide in the mount forty days and forty nights; bread I have not eaten, and water I have not drunk;

In the first year of Darius, son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who hath been made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, have understood by books the number of the years, (in that a word of Jehovah hath been unto Jeremiah the prophet,) concerning the fulfilling of the wastes of Jerusalem -- seventy years; and I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a thing is revealed to Daniel, whose name is called Belteshazzar, and the thing is true, and the warfare is great: and he hath understood the thing, and hath understanding about the appearance. 'In those days, I, Daniel, have been mourning three weeks of days;

And there were certain in Antioch, in the assembly there, prophets and teachers; both Barnabas, and Simeon who is called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen also -- Herod the tetrarch's foster-brother -- and Saul; and in their ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Separate ye to me both Barnabas and Saul to the work to which I have called them,' then having fasted, and having prayed, and having laid the hands on them, they sent them away.

And day having come, certain of the Jews having made a concourse, did anathematize themselves, saying neither to eat nor to drink till they may kill Paul; and they were more than forty who made this conspiracy by oath,