'Fasted' in the Bible

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

So they gathered at Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.

They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted [as a sign of mourning and respect] for seven days.

They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and Jonathan his son, and for the Lord’s people and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword [in battle].

David therefore appealed to God for the child [to be healed]; and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.

Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive you fasted and wept, but when the child died, you got up and ate food.”

David said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I thought, ‘Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me and the child may live.’

Now when Ahab heard these words [of Elijah], he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted, and he lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly (mourning).

all the brave men arose, 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; then they fasted seven days.

So we fasted and sought [help from] our God concerning this [matter], and He heard our plea.

Now it came about when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying [constantly] before the God of heaven.

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You do not see it?Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’Hear this [O Israel], on the day of your fast [when you should be grieving for your sins] you find something you desire [to do],And you force your hired servants to work [instead of stopping all work, as the law teaches].

“Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years [that you were in exile], was it actually for Me that you fasted?