27 Bible Verses about Fasting, Reasons For

And all Jabesh-gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul. And all the mighty men arose and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh. And they buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

And when they heard about it, the people of Jabesh-gilead, what the Philistines had done to Saul, then all the brave men arose, and they traveled all night. And they took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh, and burned them there. And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh. And they fasted seven days.

And David took hold on his garments, and tore them. And likewise all the men with him did so. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening, for Saul, and for his son Jonathan, and for the people of Jehovah, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

And David said to Joab and to all the people with him, Tear your clothes and gird yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And King David followed the bier. And they buried Abner in Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner. And all the people wept. And the king mourned over Abner and said, Did Abner die like a fool dies?read more.
Your hands were not bound, nor your feet put into fetters; as a man falls before wicked men, so you fell. And all the people wept again over him. And all the people came to cause David to eat food while it was still day; David swore, saying, So let God do to me, and more also, if I taste bread or anything else until the sun is down.

And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of Jehovah, so she provoked her. And she wept and did not eat.

And Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger, and did not eat food on the second day of the new moon. For he was grieved for David, because his father had put him to shame.

And Ahab came to his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him. For he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. And he lay on his bed and turned away his face, and would not eat food. And his wife Jezebel came to him and said to him, Why is your spirit so sad that you are not eating food? And he said to her, Because I spoke to Naboth of Jezreel and said to him, Give me your vineyard for silver. Or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give you my vineyard.

My knees stumble from fasting; and my flesh is losing its fatness.

Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. And diversions were not brought before him; and his sleep fled from him.

And until day was about to come, Paul begged all to take food, saying, This is the fourteenth day that you continued waiting without food, having taken nothing.

And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you to Jehovah. And they were gathered to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured out before Jehovah, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against Jehovah. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.

And in the twenty-fourth day of this month, the sons of Israel were gathered with fasting and with sackcloth, and with earth upon them. And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins and the sins of their fathers. And they stood up in their place, and read in the Book of the Law of Jehovah their God a fourth part of the day. And another fourth part they confessed and worshiped Jehovah their God.

And I set my face toward the Lord God, to seek by prayer and holy desires, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to Jehovah my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and awesome God, keeping the covenant and mercy to those who love Him, and to those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Your commandments and from Your judgments.read more.
Neither have we listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our rulers, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my cry before Jehovah my God for the holy mountain of my God;

Gird up and lament, priests; howl, ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, ministers of my God. For the food offering and the drink offering are held back from the house of your God. Set apart a fast; call a solemn gathering; gather the elders and all the people of the land into the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to the Lord,

Yet even now, says Jehovah, turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. Yes, tear your heart and not your robes, and turn to Jehovah your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and He pities because of the evil. Who knows if He will turn and have pity and leave a blessing behind Him, a food offering and a drink offering to Jehovah your God?read more.
Blow a trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn gathering.

And the people of Nineveh believed God. And they called a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne. And he laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he cried out and said in Nineveh by the decree of the king and his great ones, saying, Do not let man or beast, herd or flock taste anything; do not let them feed, nor drink water.read more.
But let man and animal be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God. And let them each one turn from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? He may repent, and God may have pity and turn away from the glow of His anger, so that we do not perish.

And Nathan left to go to his house. And Jehovah struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it was very sick. And David prayed to God for the child. And David fasted, and went in and lay all night upon the earth. And the elders of his house rose up toward him, to raise him up from the earth. But he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.

And they came in and spoke to Jehoshaphat, saying, A great multitude has come against you from beyond the sea on this side of Syria. And behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi. And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek Jehovah, and called for a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves to ask of Jehovah. Even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek Jehovah.

Then I called a fast there at the river Ahava, so that we might humble ourselves before our God, in order to seek from Him a right way for us and for our little ones, and for all our goods.

But when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fastings; and my prayer returned into my own bosom. As a friend, as to my brother, I walked; as one who mourns for a mother, I was bowed down, mourning.

And all the sons of Israel, and all the people, went up and came into the house of God, and wept, and sat there before Jehovah and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Jehovah. And the sons of Israel inquired of Jehovah (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron stood before it in those days) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the sons of Benjamin my brother, or shall I stop? And Jehovah said, Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into your hand.

When I had gone up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which Jehovah made with you, then I stayed in the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood the number of the years by books, which came of the Word of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face toward the Lord God, to seek by prayer and holy desires, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. And the thing was true, and a great conflict. And he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks.

And in Antioch some among the existing church were prophets and teachers. (such as Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, the foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, So, then, separate Barnabas and Saul to Me for the work to which I have called them. Then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they let them go.

And when it became day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. And they who made this conspiracy were more than forty.