'Fast' in the Bible

For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.

For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him,

by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

So they said to him, “No, but we will bind you fast and give you into their hands; yet surely we will not kill you.” Then they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

Now Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. For Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. And his head caught fast in the oak, so he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him kept going.

from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love.

Now she wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people;

They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the people.

Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.

“Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”

Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!”

“He trusts in his house, but it does not stand;He holds fast to it, but it does not endure.

“My foot has held fast to His path;I have kept His way and not turned aside.

“I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go.My heart does not reproach any of my days.

My steps have held fast to Your paths.My feet have not slipped.

For He spoke, and it was done;He commanded, and it stood fast.

They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose;They talk of laying snares secretly;They say, “Who can see them?”

She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,And happy are all who hold her fast.

Then he taught me and said to me,“Let your heart hold fast my words;Keep my commandments and live;

“Stand fast now in your spellsAnd in your many sorceriesWith which you have labored from your youth;Perhaps you will be able to profit,Perhaps you may cause trembling.

For thus says the Lord,“To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths,And choose what pleases Me,And hold fast My covenant,

“Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord,To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbathAnd holds fast My covenant;

‘Why have we fasted and You do not see?Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire,And drive hard all your workers.

“Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist.You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.

“Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?Is it for bowing one’s head like a reedAnd for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?

“Is this not the fast which I choose,To loosen the bonds of wickedness,To undo the bands of the yoke,And to let the oppressed go freeAnd break every yoke?

“Why then has this people, Jerusalem,Turned away in continual apostasy?They hold fast to deceit,They refuse to return.

When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence.”

So you go and read from the scroll which you have written at my dictation the words of the Lord to the people in the Lord’s house on a fast day. And also you shall read them to all the people of Judah who come from their cities.

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

Thus says the Lord of hosts,“The sons of Israel are oppressed,And the sons of Judah as well;And all who took them captive have held them fast,They have refused to let them go.

Consecrate a fast,Proclaim a solemn assembly;Gather the eldersAnd all the inhabitants of the landTo the house of the Lord your God,And cry out to the Lord.

Blow a trumpet in Zion,Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth months will become joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah; so love truth and peace.’