27 Bible Verses about Fasting, Reasons For

When all the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard of everything the Philistines had done to Saul, all their fighting men took the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the great tree in Jabesh. Then they fasted seven days.

The people living in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul. All the fighting men marched all night and took the dead bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan. They came back to Jabesh and burned the bodies. They buried the bones under a small tree in Jabesh. Then for seven days, they went without eating to show their sorrow.

David and all his men tore their clothes in sorrow. They grieved and mourned and fasted until evening for Saul and Jonathan and for Israel, the people of Jehovah, because so many had been killed in battle.

David told Joab and everyone with him: Show your sorrow by tearing your clothes and wearing sackcloth! Walk in front of Abner's body and cry! David walked behind the coffin on which Abner's body was being carried. Abner was buried in Hebron. David and everyone else stood at the tomb and cried loudly. The king sang a funeral song for Abner: Should Abner die like a godless fool?read more.
Your hands were not bound. Your feet were not in fetters. You fell as one falls in front of wicked men. And all the people continued to cry for him. David refused to eat anything the day of the funeral even though people tried to persuade him to eat. David vowed: May God strike me dead if I taste any food or anything else before the sun goes down.

Year after year when Peninnah went to the Temple of Jehovah, she kept on provoking Hannah. It bothered Hannah so much she wept and did not eat.

Jonathan was angry that his father had insulted David. He got up and left the table. He did not eat anything all that day.

Ahab returned to his house bitter and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite said to him: I will not give you the heritage of my fathers. Stretching himself on the bed with his face turned away, he would not eat. Jezebel his wife came to him and asked: Why is your spirit so bitter that you have no desire for food? He replied: I was talking to Naboth the Jezreelite. I said to him: 'Let me have your garden for money, or, if it pleases you, I will give you another garden for it.' 'But he said: I will not give you my garden.'

My knees give way because I have been fasting. My body has become lean, without any fat.

The king went to his palace and did not eat. He refused musical entertainment and he could not sleep.

At daybreak Paul encouraged all of them to eat some food, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that you wait and continue without food.

Samuel called all the Israelites to meet at Mizpah. He told them: I will pray to Jehovah for you there. The Israelites gathered at Mizpah. They drew some water, poured it out in front of Jehovah and fasted that day. They confessed: We have sinned against Jehovah. So Samuel judged Israel in Mizpah.

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel came together, taking no food and putting sackcloth and dust on their bodies. The seed of Israel made themselves separate from all the men of other nations. They publicly requested forgiveness for their sins and the wrongdoing of their fathers. For a fourth part of the day, upright in their places, they read from the book of the Law of their God. For a fourth part of the day they requested forgiveness and worshipped Jehovah their God.

I looked to Jehovah God to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed to Jehovah my God, and made confession, and said, Oh, Jehovah, the great and fear-inspiring (awesome) God, who keeps his covenant and loving kindness for those who love him and keep his commandments. We have sinned. We have dealt perversely. We have acted wickedly and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances.read more.
We have not listened to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

While I was speaking, in prayer, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Jehovah my God for the holy mountain of my God;

Gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth you ministers of my God! The meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from the House of your God. Sanctify a fast! Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the House of Jehovah your God. Call out to Jehovah.

Even now, said Jehovah, turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning! Rip apart your heart, and not your garments. Turn to Jehovah your God! He is gracious and merciful. He is slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness. He will turn back from doing harm. Who knows whether he will turn back, feel regret and leave a blessing behind him, a meal offering and a drink offering to Jehovah your God?read more.
Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast and call a solemn assembly.

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. The news reached the king of Nineveh. He left his throne, and took off his robe and covered himself with sackcloth. Then he sat in ashes. He made proclamation and published it in Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not eat, nor drink water.read more.
Let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast. Let them sincerely call on God! Let them turn away each one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows whether God will turn back and change his mind, and turn away from his fierce anger that we will not perish?

Nathan went home. Jehovah struck the child that Uriah's wife had given birth to David. The child became sick. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and lay on the ground all night. The elders in his palace stood beside him to raise him up from the ground. But he was unwilling and he would not eat with them.

Some men reported to Jehoshaphat: A large crowd is coming against you from the other side of the Dead Sea, from Edom. The crowd is already in Hazazon Tamar (En Gedi). Jehoshaphat was frightened and decided to ask for Jehovah's help. He announced a fast throughout Judah. The people of Judah gathered to seek Jehovah's help. They came from every city in Judah.

Then I gave orders for a time of going without food, there by the Ahava River, so that we might make ourselves low before our God in prayer, requesting from him a safe journey for us and for our little ones and for all our substance.

But when they were sick, I wore sackcloth. I humbled myself with fasting. My prayer returned unanswered. I walked around as if I were mourning for my friend or my brother. I was bent over as if I were mourning for my mother.

The people of Israel went up to Bethel and mourned. They sat there in Jehovah's presence and fasted until evening. They offered fellowship sacrifices and burned some sacrifices whole in the presence of Jehovah. The Ark of the Covenant was there at Bethel in those days. Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron, was in charge of it. The people asked Jehovah: Should we go to battle against our brothers the Benjaminites again, or should we cease? Jehovah answered: Fight. Tomorrow I will give you victory over them.

When I went up on the mountain to get the stone tablets, the tablets of the promise that Jehovah made to you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights without food or water.

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus (Xerxes), of the lineage of the Medes. He was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. It was the first year of his reign. I, Daniel, understood from The Books (Holy Scriptures) the number of the years in the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet. It was seventy years since the destruction of Jerusalem. I looked to Jehovah God to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a matter was revealed to Daniel. Daniels name was also Belteshazzar. The matter was true. There was a great military movement. He understood the matter. He also understood the vision. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three whole weeks.

There were prophets and teachers in the congregation at Antioch. This included: Barnabas, and Simeon called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to God, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said: Set Barnabas and Saul apart for the work I have called them. After they fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them away.

When day arrived some of the Jews came together and united with an oath saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There were more than forty involved in this conspiracy.