100 Bible Verses about Fasting

Matthew 6:16-18 ESV / 2,825 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.

Joel 2:12 ESV / 2,086 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 / 1,704 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.

Isaiah 58:3-7 ESV / 1,583 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. 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? “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? 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?

Psalm 69:10 ESV / 1,505 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Isaiah 58:6 ESV / 1,490 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?

Ezra 8:23 ESV / 1,409 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Acts 14:23 ESV / 1,351 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 / 1,250 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.”

Esther 4:16 ESV / 1,238 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.”

1 Corinthians 7:5 ESV / 1,205 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.

Exodus 34:28 ESV / 1,180 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.

Matthew 6:18 ESV / 1,176 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.

Acts 13:3 ESV / 1,153 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Nehemiah 1:4 ESV / 1,088 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 ESV / 1,062 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.

Luke 4:2 ESV / 962 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.

Psalm 35:13 ESV / 946 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.

Luke 2:37 ESV / 940 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.

Matthew 4:4 ESV / 899 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.’”

Luke 18:12 ESV / 898 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Matthew 6:17-18 ESV / 814 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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.

Ezra 8:21-23 ESV / 780 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.

2 Samuel 1:12 ESV / 713 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 9:3 ESV / 710 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.

Luke 4:1-2 ESV / 564 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.

Joel 2:12-13 ESV / 536 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; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

Psalm 35:13-14 ESV / 495 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. I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning.

Isaiah 58:1-14 ESV / 482 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? ...

Isaiah 58:3 ESV / 474 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.

Matthew 6:1-16:28 ESV / 467 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. ...

1 Samuel 7:6 ESV / 465 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.

Ezra 8:21 ESV / 455 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.

Joel 1:14 ESV / 425 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.

Daniel 9:3-5 ESV / 421 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. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.

Matthew 4:2 ESV / 414 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Judges 20:26 ESV / 408 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.

2 Samuel 12:16 ESV / 405 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.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV / 396 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV / 375 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.

Mark 9:29 ESV / 371 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Matthew 9:14-15 ESV / 369 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.

Zechariah 7:5 ESV / 368 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?

Acts 9:9 ESV / 366 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Jonah 3:5-9 ESV / 358 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. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

1 Kings 21:25-27 ESV / 349 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

(There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel.) 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.

Ezra 10:6 ESV / 338 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.

Acts 13:1-3 ESV / 323 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.

Luke 18:1 ESV / 323 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Jonah 3:5 ESV / 318 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.

Isaiah 58:6-7 ESV / 318 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? 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?

Zechariah 8:19 ESV / 313 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.

2 Samuel 12:15-17 ESV / 313 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then Nathan went to his house. And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick. David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them.

Matthew 9:15 ESV / 289 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.

Matthew 9:14 ESV / 278 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?”

Isaiah 58:2 ESV / 278 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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.

2 Corinthians 11:27 ESV / 273 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.

Daniel 10:2-3 ESV / 273 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.

Acts 13:2-3 ESV / 244 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.

Nehemiah 9:1 ESV / 240 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads.

Matthew 17:21 ESV / 231 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Kings 19:8 ESV / 218 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.

Mark 2:18 ESV / 210 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?”

Acts 10:30 ESV / 202 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

1 Corinthians 7:1-5 ESV / 199 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.

Matthew 17:20-22 ESV / 198 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,

Joel 2:15 ESV / 198 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

1 Samuel 31:13 ESV / 197 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Jonah 3:5-10 ESV / 196 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. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” ...

2 Chronicles 20:3 ESV / 193 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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

Luke 5:33-35 ESV / 185 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.”

Psalm 109:24 ESV / 184 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

My knees are weak through fasting; my body has become gaunt, with no fat.

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 183 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,

Daniel 6:18 ESV / 179 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.

Esther 4:3 ESV / 171 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.

Jeremiah 14:12 ESV / 168 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.”

Matthew 4:1-11 ESV / 167 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 ...

Mark 2:18-20 ESV / 165 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.

Acts 13:1-52 ESV / 149 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. ...

Leviticus 16:29 ESV / 148 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.

Deuteronomy 9:18 ESV / 146 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.

Matthew 4:1-2 ESV / 144 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.

Exodus 34:28-29 ESV / 144 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.

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV / 143 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Luke 5:33 ESV / 141 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.”

Jeremiah 36:9 ESV / 139 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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.

2 Samuel 3:35 ESV / 136 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day. But David swore, saying, “God do so to me and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down!”

Acts 27:33 ESV / 131 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.

Luke 5:35 ESV / 124 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”

Matthew 4:1-4 ESV / 123 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.’”

Luke 5:34-35 ESV / 116 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.”

Isaiah 58:5-8 ESV / 101 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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? “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? 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? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

1 Corinthians 8:8 ESV / 100 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.

James 1:1-27 ESV / 98 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. ...

1 Kings 21:27 ESV / 98 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.

2 Samuel 12:16-22 ESV / 96 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. And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. ...

Matthew 17:20 ESV / 82 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.”

Leviticus 23:26-32 ESV / 80 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the Lord. And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people. And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. ...

Acts 27:9 ESV / 78 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even the Fast was already over, Paul advised them,

John 3:16-17 ESV / 77 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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.