34 Bible Verses about Abstinence as a discipline

And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, No fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat shall ye eat. But the fat of a dead carcase, and the fat of that which is torn, may be used in any other use; but ye shall in no wise eat it.read more.
For whoever eateth the fat of the beast of which men present an offering by fire to Jehovah, the soul that hath eaten shall be cut off from his peoples. And no blood shall ye eat in any of your dwellings, whether it be of fowl or of cattle. Whatever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, that soul shall be cut off from his peoples.

Ye are sons of Jehovah your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for a dead person. For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God, and thee hath Jehovah chosen for a people of possession unto himself, out of all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth. Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.read more.
These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat; the hart, and the gazelle, and the stag, and the wild goat, and the dishon and the oryx, and the wild sheep. And every beast that hath cloven hoofs, and the feet quite split open into double hoofs, and which cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that ye shall eat. Only these ye shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those with hoofs cloven and split open: the camel, and the hare, and the rock-badger; for they chew the cud, but have not cloven hoofs they shall be unclean unto you; and the swine, for it hath cloven hoofs, yet cheweth not the cud it shall be unclean unto you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch. These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales shall ye eat; but whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye shall not eat: it shall be unclean unto you. All clean birds shall ye eat. But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the sea-eagle, and the falcon, and the kite, and the black kite after its kind; and every raven after its kind; and the female ostrich, and the male ostrich, and the sea-gull, and the hawk after its kind; the owl, and the ibis and the swan, and the pelican, and the carrion vulture, and the gannet, and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. And every winged crawling thing shall be unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten. All clean fowls shall ye eat. Ye shall eat of no carcase; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it, or sell it unto a foreigner; for thou art a holy people to Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

And on the morrow, as these were journeying and drawing near to the city, Peter went up on the house to pray, about the sixth hour. And he became hungry and desired to eat. But as they were making ready an ecstasy came upon him: and he beholds the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as a great sheet, bound by the four corners and let down to the earth;read more.
in which were all the quadrupeds and creeping things of the earth, and the fowls of the heaven. And there was a voice to him, Rise, Peter, slay and eat. And Peter said, In no wise, Lord; for I have never eaten anything common or unclean.

And Moses came down from the mountain to the people, and hallowed the people; and they washed their clothes. And he said to the people, Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.

And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you. In the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, the home-born, and the stranger that sojourneth among you; for on that day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you: from all your sins shall ye be clean before Jehovah. A sabbath of rest shall it be unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls: it is an everlasting statute.

And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If a man or a woman have vowed the special vow of a Nazarite, to consecrate themselves to Jehovah; he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink: he shall drink no vinegar of wine, nor vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat grapes, fresh or dried.read more.
All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine, from the seed-stones, even to the skin.

And the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations it is an everlasting covenant. It shall be a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

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

Therefore beware, and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean,

And Ezra arose from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib; and when he came thither, he ate no bread and drank no water; for he mourned because of the unfaithfulness of them that had been carried away.

And they said to me, Those who remain, that are left of the captivity there in the province, are in great affliction and reproach; and the wall of Jerusalem is in ruins, and its gates are burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat and wept, and mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of the heavens,

Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning;

And the men 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 Antioch, in the assembly which was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen, foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

Then Jesus was carried up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted of the devil: and having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he hungered.

But Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness forty days, tempted of the devil; and in those days he did not eat anything, and when they were finished he hungered.

Then come to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees often fast, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn so long as the bridegroom is with them? But days will come when the bridegroom will have been taken away from them, and then they will fast.

And the disciples of John and the Pharisees were fasting; and they come and say to him, Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But days will come when the bridegroom shall have been taken away from them, and then shall they fast in that day.

And they said to him, Why do the disciples of John fast often and make supplications, in like manner those also of the Pharisees, but thine eat and drink? And he said to them, Can ye make the sons of the bridechamber fast when the bridegroom is with them? But days will come when also the bridegroom will have been taken away from them; then shall they fast in those days.

And there was a prophetess, Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, who was far advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and herself a widow up to eighty-four years; who did not depart from the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers;

And he was three days without seeing, and neither ate nor drank.

He that regards the day, regards it to the Lord. And he that eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he that does not eat, it is to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.

And he said to the people, Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any one desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

And having called the crowd with his disciples, he said to them, Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.

And he said to them all, If any one will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me;

As in the day, let us walk becomingly; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and lasciviousness, not in strife and emulation.

Wherefore I judge, not to trouble those who from the nations turn to God; but to write to them to abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from what is strangled, and from blood.

It is right not to eat meat, nor drink wine, nor do anything in which thy brother stumbles, or is offended, or is weak.

And when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, downcast in countenance; for they disfigure their faces, so that they may appear fasting to men: verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not; have afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find what pleaseth you, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye have fasted for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye do not at present fast, to cause your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul, that he should bow down his head as a bulrush, and spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to Jehovah?read more.
Is not this the fast which I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, and to send forth free the crushed, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring to thy house the needy wanderers; when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

Thus saith Jehovah to this people: Even so have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet; and Jehovah hath no delight in them: now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. And Jehovah said unto me, Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer up burnt-offering and oblation, I will not accept them: for I will consume them by sword, and by famine, and by pestilence.

when Bethel had sent Sherezer and Regem-melech, and his men, to supplicate Jehovah, and to speak unto the priests that were in the house of Jehovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done now so many years? And the word of Jehovah of 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 in the seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye really fast unto me, even unto me? And when ye ate, and when ye drank, was it not you that were eating and drinking?

The Pharisee, standing, prayed thus to himself: God, I thank thee that I am not as the rest of men, rapacious, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax-gatherer. I fast twice in the week, I tithe everything I gain.