'Fasting' in the Bible

“This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month (nearly October) on the tenth day of the month you shall humble yourselves [by fasting] and not do any work, whether the native-born or the stranger who lives temporarily among you;

It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute.

“Also the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble yourselves [by fasting] and present an offering by fire to the Lord.

If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].

It is to be to you a Sabbath of complete rest, and you shall humble yourselves. On the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening you shall keep your Sabbath.”

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites assembled with fasting and in sackcloth and with dirt on their heads.

In each and every province that the decree and law of the king reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth (mourning garment);I humbled my soul with fasting,And I prayed with my head bowed on my chest.

When I wept and humbled myself with fasting,It became my reproach.

My knees are unsteady from fasting;And my flesh is gaunt and without fatness.

“The facts are that you fast only for strife and brawling and to strike with the fist of wickedness.You do not fast as you do today to make your voice heard on high.

“Is a fast such as this what I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself [with sorrow in his soul]?Is it only to bow down his head like a reedAnd to make sackcloth and ashes as a bed [pretending to have a repentant heart]?Do you call this a fast and a day pleasing to the Lord?

So you go to the Lord’s house on a day of fasting and read from the scroll the words of the Lord to the people which you have written as I dictated. And also you shall read them to all the people of Judah who come from their cities.

Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no music or entertainment was brought before him, and he remained unable to sleep.

So I directed my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.

“Even now,” says the Lord,“Turn and come to Me with all your heart [in genuine repentance],With fasting and weeping and mourning [until every barrier is removed and the broken fellowship is restored];