The other day a friend asked me about fasting. I knew that Jesus had a few words to say about fasting, but other than that, I wasn't really sure what the rest of the Bible had to say about it. One of the best ways to find out what the Bible has to say about a topic like fasting is to look up all the verses that mention it. So I ran a quick search on ‘fasting, fast, fasted’ in my Bible software and the following verse are what it found. Be prepared, there are around 60 verses, and it would take some time to study each in context, but just reading through the verses will give you an idea of what the Bible has to say about fasting.
Judges 20:26 - Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, went up and came to the house of God and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
1 Samuel 7:6 - So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the LORD. And they fasted that day, and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah.
1 Samuel 31:13 - Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
2 Samuel 1:12 - And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, for the people of the LORD and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
2 Samuel 12:16 - David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.
2 Samuel 12:21 - Then his servants said to him, "What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food."
2 Samuel 12:22 - And he said, "While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who can tell whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?'
2 Samuel 12:23 - But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me."
1 Kings 21:9 - She wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth with high honor among the people;
1 Kings 21:12 - They proclaimed a fast, and seated Naboth with high honor among the people.
1 Kings 21:27 - So it was, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning.
1 Chronicles 10:12 - all the valiant men arose and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons; and they brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
2 Chronicles 20:3 - And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
Ezra 8:21 - Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.
Ezra 8:23 - So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.
Ezra 9:5 - At the evening sacrifice I arose from my fasting; and having torn my garment and my robe, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God.
Nehemiah 1:4 - So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Nehemiah 9:1 - Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads.
Esther 4:3 - And in every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
Esther 4:16 - "Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!"
Esther 9:31 - to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had prescribed for them, and as they had decreed for themselves and their descendants concerning matters of their fasting and lamenting.
Psalm 35:13 - But as for me, when they were sick, My clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting; And my prayer would return to my own heart.
Psalm 69:10 - When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, That became my reproach.
Psa_109:24 - My knees are weak through fasting, And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.
Isaiah 58:3 - 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?' "In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers.
Isaiah 58:4 - Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high.
Isaiah 58:5 - Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the LORD?
Isaiah 58:6 - "Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?
Jeremiah 14:12 - When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence."
Jeremiah 36:6 - You go, therefore, and read from the scroll which you have written at my instruction, the words of the LORD, in the hearing of the people in the LORD's house on the day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities.
Jeremiah 36:9 - Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.
Daniel 6:18 - Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him.
Daniel 9:3 - Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
Joel 1:14 - Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land Into the house of the LORD your God, And cry out to the LORD.
Joel 2:12 - "Now, therefore," says the LORD, "Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning."
Joel 2:15 - Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly;
Jonah 3:5 - So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
Zechariah 7:3 - and to ask the priests who were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and the prophets, saying, "Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?"
Zechariah 7:5 - "Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me?
Zechariah 8:19 - "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'The fast of the fourth month, The fast of the fifth, The fast of the seventh, And the fast of the tenth, Shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts For the house of Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.'
Matthew 4:2 - And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
Matthew 6:16 - "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
Matthew 6:17 - But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
Matthew 6:18 - so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Matthew 9:14 - Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"
Matthew 9:15 - And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
Matthew 17:21 - However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."
Mark 2:18 - The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"
Mark 2:19 - And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
Mark 2:20 - But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.
Mark 9:29 - So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."
Luke 5:33 - Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"
Luke 5:34 - And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?
Luke 5:35 - But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."
Luke 18:12 - I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'
Acts 10:30 - So Cornelius said, "Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,
Acts 13:2 - As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
Acts 13:3 - Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.
Acts 14:23 - So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Acts 27:9 - Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was already over, Paul advised them,
1 Corinthians 7:5 - Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
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