34 Bible Verses about Abstinence as a discipline

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox or of sheep or of goat. And the fat of the beast that died of itself and the fat of that which is torn by beasts may be used in any other use, but ye shall not eat of it.read more.
For whosoever eats fat of an animal, of which an offering is made on fire unto the LORD, the person that eats it shall be cut off from his people. Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it is of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Whatever person it is that eats any manner of blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.

Ye are the sons of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves nor make any baldness over your eyes for the dead. For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD has chosen thee to be a unique people unto himself from among all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth. Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.read more.
These are the animals which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, the hart and the roebuck and the buffalo and the wild goat and the unicorn (rhinoceros) and the wild ox and the mountain goat, and every animal that parts the hoof and cleaves the cleft into two claws and chews the cud among the beasts that ye shall eat. Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of those that chew the cud or of those that divide the cloven hoof: the camel and the hare and the coney, for they chew the cud, but do not divide the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you; and the swine, because it divides the hoof, yet does not chew the cud, it is unclean unto you. Ye shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their dead carcase. These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat, but whatever does not have fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you. Of all clean birds ye shall eat. But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle and the ossifrage and the ospray and the glede and the kite and the vulture after his kind and every raven after his kind and the owl and the night hawk and the cuckow and the hawk after his kind the little owl and the great owl and the swan and the pelican and the gier eagle and the cormorant and the stork and the heron after her kind and the lapwing and the bat. And every serpent that flies shall be unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten. But of all clean fowls ye may eat. Ye shall not eat of any thing that died of itself; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates that he may eat it, or thou may sell it unto an alien; for thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not cook a kid in his mother's milk.

On the morrow, as they went on their journey and drew near unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour; and he became very hungry and would have eaten; but while they made ready, he fell into a rapture of understanding and saw the heaven opened and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to the earth,read more.
in which were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth and wild beasts and reptiles and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.

And Moses went down from the mount unto the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day; come not at your women.

And you shall hold this as a perpetual statute: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, whether it is a natural of your own country or a stranger that sojourns among you; for on that day he shall reconcile you to cleanse you that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a perpetual statute.

And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the sons of Israel and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to dedicate themselves unto the LORD, they shall separate themselves from wine and strong drink and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall they drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes or dried.read more.
All the days of their Nazariteship they shall eat nothing that is made of the wine vine, from the kernels even to the husk.

Therefore the sons of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their ages for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the sons of Israel for ever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.

And ye shall have on the tenth of this seventh month a holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls; ye shall not do any work;

Now keep thyself and drink no wine nor strong drink and eat no unclean thing.

Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Johanan, the son of Eliashib; and when he came there, he ate no bread, nor drank water; for he mourned because of the transgression of those that had been carried away.

And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire. 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

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn unto me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping, and with mourning:

So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

Now there were in the congregation that was at Antioch prophets and teachers: Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 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.

Then Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry.

And Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days and was tempted of the devil. And in those days he ate nothing; and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

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.

And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser; she was of a great age and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and she was a widow eighty-four years, who departed not from the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.

where he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

He that observes the day, let him observe it unto the Lord; and he that does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He that eats, eats unto the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he that does not eat, unto the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.

And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day; come not at your women.

Then Jesus said unto his disciples, If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

And calling the multitude unto him with his disciples, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

And he said to them all, If anyone will come after me, let them deny themself and take up their cross daily and follow me.

Let us walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

Therefore my sentence is that those from among the Gentiles who are converted to God not be troubled, but that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood.

It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor do any thing by which thy brother stumbles or is offended or is sick.

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.

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. 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?read more.
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?

Thus hath the LORD said unto this people, Thus have they loved to move, nor have they refrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not have them in his will; he will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins. 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.

when they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech and their men, to pray before the LORD and to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of the hosts and to the prophets, saying, Should we weep in the fifth month? Should we do abstinence as we have done these so many years? Then the word of the LORD of the hosts came unto me, saying,read more.
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?

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are: extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast two meals every sabbath; I give tithes of all that I possess.