"Why have we fasted,' they ask, "but you do not see? "Why have we humbled ourselves,' they ask, "but you take no notice?'" "Look! On your fast day you serve your own interest and oppress all your workers.

therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in Jehovah's house upon the fast-day; and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.

“Is a fast such as this what I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself [with sorrow in his soul]?
Is it only to bow down his head like a reed
And to make sackcloth and ashes as a bed [pretending to have a repentant heart]?
Do you call this a fast and a day pleasing to the Lord?

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye fast not this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high.

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful gatherings. Love ye then truth and peace.

And then the man arose to depart with his concubine and his lad. But his father-in-law, the damsel's father, said unto him, "Behold, the day goeth fast away and draweth toward even. Tarry all night: at the least way tarry this day here and let thine heart be merry. And tomorrow get you early upon your way and get thee to thy tent."

The great [judgment] day of the Lord is near,
Near and coming very quickly.
Listen! The [voice of the] day of the Lord!
The warrior cries out bitterly [unable to fight or to flee].

And you who held fast to Jehovah your God are alive, every one of you, this day.

But hold fast to Yahweh your God, just as you have done up to this day.

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 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.

Thou didst persuade me, O Jehovah, and I shall be persuaded: thou didst hold me fast, and thou wilt prevail: I was for a derision all the day, all mocking to me.

And it will be from that day the half of my young men doing in the work, and half of them holding fast and the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and the chiefs behind every house of Judah.

Blow a trumpet in Zion [warning of impending judgment],
Dedicate a fast [as a day of restraint and humility], call a solemn assembly.

The words which Jonadab the son of Rechab commanded his sons, that they should drink no wine, are fast and surely kept: for unto this day they drink no wine but obey their father's commandment. But as for me, I have stood up early, I have spoken unto you, and given you earnest warning: and yet have ye not been obedient unto me.

And when they were fast by Jebus, the day was sore spent and the young man said unto his master, "Come I pray thee and let us turn in, into this city of the Jebusites and lodge all night there."

On the third day [of the fast] Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace opposite his [throne] room. The king was sitting on his royal throne, facing the [main] entrance of the palace.

Therefore will I put hooks in thy jaws, And cause the fish of thy rivers to stick fast in thy scales,- And will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, And lull the fish of thy rivers Ito thy scales shall stick fast;

And he will say, Bring me the upper garment which is upon thee, and hold fast upon it. And she will hold fast upon it, and he will measure six of barley, and he will place upon her: and he will go to the city.

You say, 'No, we will flee on horses,' so you will indeed flee. You say, 'We will ride on fast horses,' so your pursuers will be fast.

And David will seek God for the boy, and fast a fast; and he came and passed the night and lay upon the earth.

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.

And they will go and call to the gate of the city and announce to them, saying, We came to the camp of Aram, and behold, not a man there, and voice of man, but the horse made fast, and the ass made fast, and the tents as they are

And at their hand held fast Meremoth, son of Urijah, son of Koz. And upon their hand Meshullam son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabeel. And upon their hand held fast Zadok son of Baana.

Upon his hand held fast Uzziel son of Harhaiah of the goldsmiths. And upon his hand held fast Hananiah son of the perfumers; and they will leave Jerusalem even to the broad wall.

And upon their hand held fast Jedaiah son of Harumaph, and before his house, and upon his hand, held fast Hattush son of Hashabniah.

After him held fast the Levites, Rehum, son of Bani. Upon his hand held fast Hashabiah chief of half the circuit of Keilah to his circuit

After him held fast Benjamin and Hashub, before their house. After him held fast Azariah son of Maaseiah son of Ananiah, near his house.

After him held fast Zadok son of Immer, before his house. And after him held fast Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, watching the gate of the sunrising.

After him held fast Hananiah son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, sixth son of Zalaph, the second measure. After him held fast Meshullam son of Berechiah before his cell.

to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had imposed, and just as they had imposed on themselves and their offspring regulations of the fast and their lament.

I hold fast to my righteousness, and I will not let it go; my heart will not blame [any] of my days.

and they take their bones, and bury them under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and fast seven days.

And his father-in-law, the girl's father, will hold fast upon him, and he will dwell with, him three days: and they will eat and drink and lodge there.

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.

But as for you (Daniel), go your way until the end [of your life]; for you will rest and rise again for your allotted inheritance at the end of the age.”

And now my soul shall be poured out upon me; and the days of affliction will hold me fast

by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

"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?

When ye fasted with mourning in the fifth and in the seventh months -- even these seventy years -- did ye keep the fast to Me -- Me? And when ye eat, and when ye drink, is it not ye who are eating, and ye who are drinking?

“Also the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble yourselves [by fasting] and present an offering by fire to the Lord.

And he made the laver of brass, and the base of it of brass, from the mirrors of the women who fasted, who fasted by the doors of the tabernacle of witness, in the day in which he set it up.

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?

Hallow a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Jehovah your God, and cry unto Jehovah.

And Jehoshaphat feared, and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

She wrote in the letters, saying, "Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.

Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is your life.

They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.

and the mariners are afraid, and cry each unto his god, and cast the goods that are in the ship into the sea, to make it light of them; and Jonah hath gone down unto the sides of the vessel, and he lieth down, and is fast asleep.

And the men of Nineveh believe in God, and proclaim a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even unto their least,

For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

He shall stand fast, and give food in the strength of the LORD, and in the victory of the name of the LORD his God: and when they be converted, he shall be magnified unto the farthest parts of the world.

Behold, I shall corrupt your seed, and cast dung in your faces: even the dung of your solemn feasts and it shall cleave fast upon you.

For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.

An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.

Then said his servants to him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but after the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.

But now he is dead, Why should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.

You shall fear Jehovah your God. You shall serve Him, and you shall hold fast to Him, and swear by His name.

For if you will carefully keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him,

You shall walk after Jehovah your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.

Thy monstrous thing, hath deceived thee, The insolence of thy heart, O thou that inhabitest the hidden recesses of the cliff, That boldest fast the height of the hill, - Though thou set high as an eagle, thy nest, From thence, will I bring thee down, Declareth Yahweh;

Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts - Oppressed were the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah, together, - And, all who took them captive, Held them fast Refused to let them go: -

Their Redeemer, can hold fast, Yahweh of hosts, is his name, He will, thoroughly plead, their plea, - That he may quiet the earth, And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

then shall it come to pass that the sword which ye are fearing shall, there, overtake you, in the land of Egypt, - and the famine which ye are dreading, shall, there, lay fast hold of you, in Egypt, and, there, shall ye die.

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

And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power:

Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens:

And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.

So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law.

From Thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, Both rider and horse have been fast asleep.

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."

For Jehovah had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that holdeth fast to it; that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

for thus saith Jehovah: Unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant,

Also the sons of the alien, that join themselves to Jehovah, to minister unto him and to love the name of Jehovah, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and holdeth fast to my covenant;

My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

Only be very careful to observe the commandment and law that Moses Yahweh's servant commanded you, to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul."

They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.

But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away my head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master's feet behind him?

and, to men, who were the mightiest men in his army, gave he word to bind fast Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, - to cast them into the burning furnace of fire.

and, these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down into the midst of the burning furnace of fire, fast bound.

Then, Nebuchadnezzar the king, was amazed, and rose up in haste: he spake and said to his nearest friends - Were there not three men, we cast into the midst of the fire, fast bound? They answered and said to the king, Surely, O king!

And the LORD said unto Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one that fears God, and turns away from evil? and still he holds fast his integrity, although you moved me against him, to destroy him without cause.

Why hath this people of Jerusalem slidden back with a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

And, after that, came forth his brother with his hand fast hold of the heel of Esau, so they called his name Jacob - Now, Isaac, was sixty years old when she bare them,

He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.

Who is a GOD like unto thee, taking away the iniquity - and passing over the transgression - of the remnant of his inheritance? He hath not held fast, perpetually, his anger, for, one who delighteth in lovingkindness, is he!

Else if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you;

The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast.

Now, the famine, was over all the face of the land, - so Joseph opened all places wherein it was and sold corn to the Egyptians, and the famine laid fast hold of the land of Egypt.

All the earth also, came in to Egypt to buy corn, unto Joseph, - because the famine had laid fast hold on an the earth.

So Joseph bought all the ground of the Egyptians for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine had laid fast hold upon them, - so the land became Pharaohs.

My foot has held fast to his steps, his way have I kept, and not turned aside.

Declare you in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say you, Stand fast, and prepare you; for the sword shall devour all around you.

But, if, refusing, thou art to let them go, - and still art holding them fast,

Mordecai wrote in King Ahasuerus’s name and sealed the edicts with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses bred from the royal racing mares.