33 Bible Verses about Fasting, Nature Of

Then Ezra rose up from before God's house, and went into the room of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came there, he ate no bread, nor drank water; for he mourned because of their trespass of the captivity.

And I turned to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

As he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she taunted her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.

Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting; neither were instruments of music brought before him. And his sleep fled from him.

It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your Sabbath."

Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

They mourned, and wept, and fasted until evening, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword.

He was without sight for three days, and neither ate nor drank.

They took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

all the valiant men arose, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

David therefore begged God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night on the ground. The elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the ground: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. It happened on the seventh day, that the child died. The servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, "Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to our voice. How will he then harm himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?"read more.
But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" They said, "He is dead." Then David arose from the ground, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into the house of the LORD, and worshiped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he ate.

He was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

And he got up and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the Mount of God.

And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward.

for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. When they were completed, he was hungry.

"It shall be a statute to you forever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls, and shall do no manner of work, both the native and the foreigner who sojourns in your midst: for on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before the LORD. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls; it is a statute forever.

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. You shall do no manner of work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God.read more.
For whoever it is who shall not deny himself in that same day; shall be cut off from his people. Whoever it is who does any manner of work in that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner of work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your Sabbath."

"'On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation; and you shall afflict your souls: you shall do no kind of work;

When much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, because the Fast had now already gone by, Paul admonished them,

Thus says the LORD of hosts: "The fasts of the fourth fifth, seventh, and tenth months shall be for the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace."

The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech, and their men, to entreat the LORD's favor, and to speak to the priests of the house of the 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 the LORD of hosts came to me, saying,read more.
"Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?

The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: 'God, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.'

Jehoshaphat was alarmed, and set himself to seek to the LORD. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

The men of Israel were distressed that day; for Saul had adjured the people, saying, "Cursed is the man who eats any food until it is evening, and I am avenged of my enemies." So none of the people tasted food.

The man of God said to the king, "Even if you gave me half of your house, I would not go in with you, neither would I eat bread nor drink water in this place; for so was it commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, neither return by the way that you came.'"

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

Now it happened in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before the LORD.

While the day was coming on, Paul begged them all to take some food, saying, "This day is the fourteenth day that you wait and continue fasting, having taken nothing.

in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;

in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.

It happened, 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,

and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years), who did not depart from the temple, worshipping with fastings and petitions night and day.