10 Bible Verses about Fasting, Nature Of

When daylight came, [a group of] Jews conspired together, agreeing under oath that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

For three days he was blind and neither ate nor drank anything.

After He had fasted forty days and nights, He was [very] hungry.

During the forty days He was being put to the test by the devil, He did not eat anything; then after it was over He was [very] hungry.

After much time had passed, the voyage became more dangerous because it was [now] past the Day of Atonement [Note: This would have been around September or October, when a sea voyage involved rough sailing]. So, Paul began warning the people [aboard ship],

The Pharisee stood up [conspicuously] and prayed about himself this way [i.e., bragging to God about how good he was], 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, sexually unfaithful to their mates, or even like that tax collector [over there]. I fast [i.e., going without food and/or drink for religious reasons] twice a week and I give [to God's work] a tenth of everything I get.'

As it was dawning, Paul urged the crew to eat something, saying, "You have been waiting for fourteen days [for the weather to break] and you have continued to fast [all that time], eating nothing [at all].

[We have been] beaten, jailed, and mobbed. [We have] worked hard, missed sleep and gone without food.

I have worked and suffered. I have often gone without sleep, been hungry and thirsty, often gone without food [i.e., for spiritual reasons], been cold and had inadequate clothing.

and has been a widow [all these years], and is now eighty-four years old.) She has never left the Temple, but worships [God] by fasting [i.e., going without food and/or water for religious reasons] and praying night and day.