Reference: Fast
Easton
The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Le 23:26-32. It is called "the fast" (Ac 27:9).
The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old Testament is in Zec 7:1-7; 8:19, from which it appears that during their captivity the Jews observed four annual fasts.
(1.) The fast of the fourth month, kept on the seventeenth day of Tammuz, the anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; to commemorate also the incident recorded Ex 32:19. (Comp. Jer 52:6-7.)
(2.) The fast of the fifth month, kept on the ninth of Ab (comp. Nu 14:27), to commemorate the burning of the city and temple (Jer 52:12-13).
(3.) The fast of the seventh month, kept on the third of Tisri (comp. 2Ki 25), the anniversary of the murder of Gedaliah (Jer 41:1-2).
(4.) The fast of the tenth month (comp. Jer 52:4; Eze 33:21; 2Ki 25:1), to commemorate the beginning of the siege of the holy city by Nebuchadnezzar.
There was in addition to these the fast appointed by Esther (Es 4:16).
Public national fasts on account of sin or to supplicate divine favour were sometimes held. (1.) 1Sa 7:6; (2.) 2Ch 20:3; (3.) Jer 36:6-10; (4.) Ne 9:1.
There were also local fasts. (1.) Jg 20:26; (2.) 2Sa 1:12; (3.) 1Sa 31:13; (4.) 1Ki 21:9-12; (5.) Ezr 8:21-23: (6.) Jon 3:5-9.
There are many instances of private occasional fasting (1Sa 1:1; 20:34; 2Sa 3:35; 12:16; 1Ki 21:27; Ezr 10:6; Ne 1:4; Da 10:2-3). Moses fasted forty days (Ex 24:18; 34:28), and so also did Elijah (1Ki 19:8). Our Lord fasted forty days in the wilderness (Mt 4:2).
In the lapse of time the practice of fasting was lamentably abused (Isa 58:4; Jer 14:12; Zec 7:5). Our Lord rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocritical pretences in fasting (Mt 6:16). He himself appointed no fast. The early Christians, however, observed the ordinary fasts according to the law of their fathers (Ac 13:3; 14:23; 2Co 6:5).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud and ascended into the mountain. And it came to pass that Moses was in the mountain forty days and forty nights.
And it came to pass when he drew near unto the camp, and saw the calf, and the dancings, that the anger of Moses kindled, and he cast out of his hands the tables, and brake them in pieces at the foot of the mountain.
So then he was there, with Yahweh, forty days and forty nights, bread, did he not eat and, water, did he not drink, and he wrote upon the tables, the words of the covenant, the ten words.
Surely on the tenth of this seventh month, is, the Day of Propitiation, a holy convocation, shall it be to you, therefore shall ye humble your souls, - and bring near an altar-flame unto Yahweh. And, no work, shall ye do, on this selfsame day, - for a day of propitiation, it is, to put a propitiatory-covering over you before Yahweh your God. read more. For, whosoever be the person that shall not be humbled on this selfsame day, then shall he be cut off from among his kinsfolk. And, whosoever be the person that shall do any work on this selfsame day, then will I destroy that person from the midst of his people. No work, shall ye do, - an age-abiding statute to your generations, in all your dwellings. A sabbath of sacred rest, shall it be unto you, so shall ye humble your souls, - on the ninth of the month in the evening, from evening to evening, shall ye keep your sabbath.
How long, as regardeth this evil assembly, re they to be murmuring against me? The murmuring of the sons of Israel which, they, have been murmuring against me, have I heard,
Then went up all the sons of Israel, and all the people, and came to Bethel, and wept, and tarried there before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, until the evening, - and caused to go up ascending-sacrifices and peace-offerings, before Yahweh.
And there was a certain man, of Ramathaim-zuphi, of the hill country of Ephraim, - whose name, was Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite;
So they gathered themselves unto Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, and said, there, We have sinned against Yahweh. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpah.
Jonathan therefore rose up from the table, in a glow of anger, - and did eat no food on the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had reviled him.
and took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk-tree in Jabesh, - and fasted seven days.
And they lamented aloud, and wept, and fasted until the evening, - for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of Yahweh, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
So he arose, and did eat and drink, - and journeyed, in the strength of that eating, forty days and forty nights, as far as the mountain of God - Horeb.
Now she wrote in the letters, saying, - Proclaim ye a fast, and cause Naboth to sit at the head of the people; then let two reckless men take their seats before him, that they may bear witness against him, saying, Thou hast reviled God and king! then shall ye carry him forth and stone him, that he die. read more. So the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who dwelt in his city, did just as Jezebel had sent unto them, - as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them: they proclaimed a fast, - and caused Naboth to sit at the head of the people.
And Jehoshaphat was afraid, and set his face to seek unto Yahweh, - and proclaimed a fast for all Judah.
Then proclaimed I there a fast, by the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, - to seek of him a smooth way, for us and for our little ones, and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to ask of the king, a band of soldiers and horsemen, to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God, is upon all who seek him, for good, But, his power and his anger, are against all who forsake him. read more. So we fasted and sought of our God, concerning this, - and he suffered himself to be entreated by us.
Then arose Ezra from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib, - and, when he came thither, bread, did he not eat, and, water, did he not drink, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of them of the Exile.
And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and I mourned certain days, - and continued fasting and praying, before the God of the heavens;
Now, on the twenty-fourth day of this month, were the sons of Israel gathered together, with fasting and with sackcloth, having earth upon them.
Go! gather ye together all the Jews who are to be found in Shusan, and fast ye for me - and neither eat nor drink - three days, night nor day, and, I and my maidens, will fast so, - and, in this manner, will I go in unto the king, though it is not according to the law, and, when I have perished, I have perished!
Lo! for strife and contention, ye fast, And to smite with the fist of lawlessness, - Ye shall not fast as to-day, To cause to be heard on high your voice!
Though they fast, I am not going to hearken unto their loud cry, and Though they offer ascending-sacrifice and meal-offering, I am not going to accept them, - For with sword and with famine and with pestilence, am, I, about to consume them.
Thou, therefore shalt enter and read in the roll which thou hast written from my mouth the words of Yahweh in the ears of the people in the house of Yahweh on the day of a fast, - moreover also, in the ears of all Judah who are coming in out of their cities, shalt thou read them: Peradventure, their supplication, will fall prostrate, before Yahweh, and they return every man from his wicked way, - For, great, are the anger and the indignation which Yahweh hath spoken against this people. read more. So then Baruch son of Neriah did according to all which Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of Yahweh in the house of Yahweh. And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah in the ninth month, that all the people of Jerusalem, and all the people who were coming in out of the cities of Judah into Jerusalem, had proclaimed a fast before Yahweh; Baruch, therefore, read in the book the words of Jeremiah, in the house of Yahweh, - in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan - the scribe, in the upper court, at the opening of the new gate of the house of Yahweh, in the ears of all the people.
And it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama of the seed royal and chiefs of the king, and ten men with him, came in, unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam, at Mizpah, - and they did there eat bread together in Mizpah. Then arose Ishmael son of Nethaniah - and the ten men who were with him and they smote Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan - with the sword and slew him whom the king of Babylon had set in charge, over the land.
And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his force, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it, - and he built against it a siege-wall round about.
In the fourth month on the ninth of the month, when the famine had become severe in the city, - and there had come to be no bread for the people of the land, then was the city broken up, and all the men of war, beginning to flee went forth out of the city by night, by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the garden of the king the Chaldeans being near the city round about, - and they went the way towards the Waste Plain.
And in the fifth month on the tenth of the month, the same, was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, chief of the royal executioners, - who stood before the king of Babylon into, Jerusalem; and he burned the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, - yea all the houses of Jerusalem even every great man's house, burned he with fire;
And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the tenth month on the fifth of the month of our exe, that there came unto me one that had escaped out of Jerusalem saying. Smitten is the city!
In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning three sevens of days: food to delight in, did I not eat, neither flesh nor wine, came into my mouth, nor did I so much as, anoint, myself, - until were fulfilled three sevens of days.
And the people of Nineveh believed in God, - and proclaimed a fast, and clothed themselves in sackcloth, from the greatest of them, even unto the least of them. And the word reached unto the king of Nineveh, so he arose from his throne, and laid aside his robe from off him, - and covered him with sackcloth, and sat on ashes. read more. And he caused an outcry to be made - and said - throughout Nineveh, By decree of the king and of his great men, Be it known: - Man and beast, herd and flock, Let them taste, nothing, let them not feed, and, water, let them not drink: Let both man and beast, cover themselves with sackcloth, and let them cry unto God, mightily, - Yea let them turn, every man from his wicked way, and from the violence which is in their hands: Who knoweth whether God himself - may turn and grieve, - and turn away from the glow of his anger, that we perish not?
And it came to pass, in the fourth year of Darius the king, that the word of Yahweh came unto Zechariah, on the fourth of the ninth month, in Chisleu; yea when Bethel sent Sherezer and Regemmelech, and his men, - to pacify the face of Yahweh: read more. to speak unto the priests that pertained to the house of Yahweh of hosts, and unto the prophets, saying, - Shall I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? Then came the word of Yahweh of hosts unto me, saying: Speak thou unto all the people of the land, and unto the priests, saying, - When ye fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh, even these seventy years, did ye, really fast, unto, me?
Speak thou unto all the people of the land, and unto the priests, saying, - When ye fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh, even these seventy years, did ye, really fast, unto, me? And, when ye used to eat and when ye used to drink, was it not, of your own accord, ye did eat, and, of your own accord, ye did drink? read more. Should ye not have been doing the things which Yahweh, had proclaimed, by the hand of the former prophets, while yet Jerusalem was inhabited and in peace, with her cities round about her, - and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?
Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts - The fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the eleventh, shall become to the house of Judah a gladness and a rejoicing, and pleasant appointed meetings, - But, truth and peace, see that ye love.
and, fasting forty days and forty nights, - afterwards, he hungered.
And, when ye may he fasting, become not ye, as the hypocrites, of sullen countenance, - for they darken their looks, that they may appear, unto men, to be fasting: Verily, I say unto you, they are getting back their reward.
Then, fasting and praying, and laying their hands upon them, they sent them away.
Moreover, appointing unto them by vote, in each assembly, elders, praying with fastings, they commended them unto the Lord on whom they had believed.
And, when a considerable time had passed, and sailing was already dangerous, because, even the Fast, had already gone by, Paul began to advise,