100 Bible Verses about Fasting Prayer

Acts 14:23 ESV / 106 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Acts 13:2 ESV / 83 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Luke 2:37 ESV / 81 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.

Nehemiah 1:4 ESV / 80 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Matthew 6:16-18 ESV / 74 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Acts 13:3 ESV / 64 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Isaiah 58:6 ESV / 62 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

Mark 9:29 ESV / 59 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

Matthew 4:2 ESV / 56 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

Joel 2:12 ESV / 54 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

Daniel 10:3 ESV / 52 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.

1 Corinthians 7:5 ESV / 51 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Matthew 6:16 ESV / 49 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Psalm 69:10 ESV / 49 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.

Matthew 9:14-15 ESV / 46 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Ezra 8:21-23 ESV / 46 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

Daniel 9:3 ESV / 44 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

2 Corinthians 11:27 ESV / 43 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

In toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

Acts 13:2-3 ESV / 43 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Matthew 4:4 ESV / 43 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Joel 1:14 ESV / 42 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.

Psalm 35:13 ESV / 42 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But I, when they were sick— I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.

Acts 9:9 ESV / 41 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Isaiah 58:1-14 ESV / 40 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? ...

Luke 4:2 ESV / 39 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

For forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.

Matthew 17:21 ESV / 38 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV / 37 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Luke 5:33 ESV / 35 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.”

Matthew 6:18 ESV / 35 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

That your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Isaiah 58:3 ESV / 35 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.

Esther 4:16 ESV / 35 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

Mark 2:18 ESV / 32 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

Exodus 34:28 ESV / 32 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Acts 10:30 ESV / 31 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing

Ezra 10:6 ESV / 31 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib, where he spent the night, neither eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles.

Ezra 8:21 ESV / 31 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods.

2 Samuel 1:12 ESV / 31 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

Daniel 10:2-3 ESV / 30 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.

1 Samuel 7:6 ESV / 29 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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 people of Israel at Mizpah.

Isaiah 58:7 ESV / 28 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Luke 18:1 ESV / 27 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

Ezra 8:23 ESV / 27 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

James 5:16 ESV / 26 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

2 Samuel 12:16 ESV / 26 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.

Judges 20:26 ESV / 26 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

Luke 18:12 ESV / 25 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

Luke 5:33-35 ESV / 25 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”

Joel 2:15 ESV / 25 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly;

Daniel 6:18 ESV / 25 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV / 24 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Luke 5:34-35 ESV / 24 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”

Matthew 9:15 ESV / 24 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Philippians 3:8 ESV / 23 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

Jeremiah 14:12 ESV / 23 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”

Colossians 1:12-13 ESV / 22 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

Acts 13:1-52 ESV / 22 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. ...

Matthew 16:19 ESV / 22 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Colossians 4:2 ESV / 20 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

Ephesians 6:18 ESV / 20 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Esther 4:3 ESV / 20 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And in every province, wherever the king's command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.

1 Kings 19:8 ESV / 20 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

1 Samuel 31:13 ESV / 20 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.

1 Corinthians 7:1-5 ESV / 19 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Acts 13:1-3 ESV / 19 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Matthew 4:1-11 ESV / 19 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ...

2 Chronicles 20:3 ESV / 19 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

Philippians 4:13 ESV / 18 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:6-7 ESV / 18 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Mark 11:24 ESV / 18 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 2:18-20 ESV / 18 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

Matthew 17:20 ESV / 18 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 6:7 ESV / 18 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Psalm 145:18 ESV / 18 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

1 Chronicles 16:11 ESV / 18 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!

Matthew 17:20-22 ESV / 17 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men,

Matthew 4:1-4 ESV / 17 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Jeremiah 14:10 ESV / 17 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Thus says the Lord concerning this people: “They have loved to wander thus; they have not restrained their feet; therefore the Lord does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.”

Leviticus 16:29 ESV / 17 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.

Exodus 34:28-29 ESV / 17 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

James 1:1-27 ESV / 16 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ...

Romans 14:1-23 ESV / 16 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ...

Acts 9:17-18 ESV / 16 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized;

Luke 12:32 ESV / 16 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Matthew 9:37-38 ESV / 16 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Matthew 6:1-34 ESV / 16 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ...

Jonah 3:5 ESV / 16 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

Acts 27:33 ESV / 15 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing.

John 3:16 ESV / 15 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 John 1:9 ESV / 14 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James 5:13 ESV / 14 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

Matthew 5:6 ESV / 14 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

1 Kings 21:27-29 ESV / 14 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son's days I will bring the disaster upon his house.”

Deuteronomy 9:18 ESV / 14 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 12 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

1 John 5:20 ESV / 12 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

1 John 5:15 ESV / 12 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

1 John 5:14 ESV / 12 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

James 4:7 ESV / 12 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:3 ESV / 12 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

James 1:7 ESV / 12 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;