34 Bible Verses about Abstinence as a discipline

And LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, Ye shall eat no fat, of ox, or sheep, or goat. And the fat of that which dies of itself, and the fat of that which is torn of beasts, may be used for any other service, but ye shall certainly not eat of it.read more.
For whoever eats the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by fire to LORD, even the soul that eats it shall be cut off from his people. And ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of bird or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Whoever it is who eats any blood, that soul shall be cut off from his people.

Ye are the sons of LORD your God. Ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. For thou are a holy people to LORD thy God, and LORD has chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. Thou shall not eat any abominable thing.read more.
These are the beasts which ye may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the ibex, and the antelope, and the chamois. And every beast that parts the hoof, and has the hoof cloven in two, [and] chews the cud, among the beasts, that may ye eat. Nevertheless of those that chew the cud, or of those that have the hoof cloven, these ye shall not eat: the camel, and the hare, and the coney, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, they are unclean to you, and the swine, because he parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, he is unclean to you. Of their flesh ye shall not eat, and their carcasses ye shall not touch. These ye may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales ye may eat. And whatever does not have fins and scales ye shall not eat; it is unclean to you. Of all clean birds ye may eat, but these are those of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the osprey, and the glede, and the falcon, and the kite according to its kind, and every raven after its kind, and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-gull, and the hawk according to its kind, the little owl, and the great owl, and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the vulture, and the cormorant, and the stork, and the heron according to its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. And all winged creeping things are unclean to you. They shall not be eaten. Of all clean birds ye may eat. Ye shall not eat of anything that dies of itself. Thou may give it to the sojourner who is within thy gates, that he may eat it, or thou may sell it to a foreigner, for thou are a holy people to LORD thy God. Thou shall not boil a

Now on the morrow, while those men were traveling and approaching the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. And he became very hungry and wanted to eat. But while those men prepared, a trance fell upon him. And he sees heaven opened, and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet bound at four corners, and being lowered to the earth,read more.
in which were all the four-footed things of the earth, and the wild beasts, and the creeping things, and the birds of the sky. And a voice came to him, After rising, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord, because I have never eaten anything profane or unclean.

And Moses went down from the mount to the people, and sanctified the people, and they washed their garments. And he said to the people, Be ready for the third day. Come not near a woman.

And it shall be a statute forever to you. In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and shall do no manner of work, the home-born, or the stranger who sojourns among you. For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you. Ye shall be clean from all your sins before LORD. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and ye shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever.

And LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazarite, to separate himself to LORD, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried.read more.
All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is made of the grape-vine, from the kernels even to the husk.

Therefore the sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the sons of Israel forever. For in six days LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

And on the tenth day of this seventh month ye shall have a holy convocation, and ye shall afflict your souls. Ye shall do no manner of work.

Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing,

Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. And [when] he came there, he ate no bread, nor drank water, for he mourned because of the trespass of those of the captivit

And they said to me, The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. Also the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and the gates of it 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 I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,

Yet even now, says LORD, turn ye to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.

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

Now there were some men from the congregation that was in Antioch, prophets and teachers, including Barnabas, and Simeon called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen reared with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. And while they were serving the Lord, and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate to me now Barnabas and Saul for the work that I have called them.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward he was hungry.

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

Then the disciples of John come to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said to them, The sons of the wedding hall cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

And John's disciples and those of the Pharisees were fasting. And they come and say to him, Why do John's disciples and those of the Pharisees fast, but the disciples with you do not fast? And Jesus said to them, The sons of the wedding hall cannot 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 is taken away from them, and then they will they fast in those day.

And they said to him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make supplications, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but thine eat and drink. And he said to them, Ye cannot make the sons of the wedding hall fast while the bridegroom is with them. But the days will also come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.

And there was Anna, a prophetess, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher (being advanced in many days, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and this woman was a widow to eighty-four years), who did not depart from the temple, serving with fastings and supplications night and day.

And he was three days not seeing, and did not eat or drink.

He who regards the day, regards it for Lord. And he who does not regard the day, for Lord he does not regard it. And he who eats, eats for Lord, for he expresses thanks to God. And he who does not eat, for Lord he does not eat, and

And he said to the people, Be ready for the third day. Come not near a woman.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man wants to come behind me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

And having called in the multitude with his disciples, he said to them, Whoever wants to follow behind me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

And he said to all, If any man wants to come behind me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Let us walk decently as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in beddings and wantonness, not in strife and envy.

Therefore I judge not to trouble those from the Gentiles who are turning to God, but to write to them, to abstain from the pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from what is strangled, and from blood.

It is good not to eat meats, nor to drink wine, nor in whatever thy brother stumbles against, or is caused to stumble, or becomes weak.

And when ye fast, become not like the gloomy looking hypocrites, for they make their faces unsightly, so that they may appear fasting to men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

Why have we fasted, [they say], and thou see not? We have afflicted our soul, and thou take no knowledge. Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact from all your laborers. Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye do not fast this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I have chosen, the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to LORD?read more.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to a hungry man, and that thou bring the poor who are cast out to thy house, when thou see a naked man, that thou cover him, and that thou not hide thyself from thine own flesh?

Thus says LORD to this people: Even so they have loved to wander. They have not restrained their feet. Therefore LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. And LORD said to me, Pray not for this people for good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry. And when they offer burnt-offering and meal-offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

Now [those of] Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to entreat the favor of LORD, [and] to speak to the priests of the house of LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? Then the word of LORD of hosts came to me, saying,read more.
Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh [month], even these seventy years, did ye at all fast to me, even to me? And when ye eat, and when ye drink, do ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

Having stood by himself, the Pharisee prayed these things: God, I thank thee that I am not as the rest of men, predatory, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice per Sabbath. I tithe all things, as many as I acquire.