Bible Verses about Fasting

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To fast is to abstain from eating. And possibly drinking. Or to follow a restricted diet. It is a wonderful companion during special times in our lives.

 

 

CAUTION

 

Fasting is only for those who are medically capable. Check with your health care provider. Experts say you need to be under the supervision of a doctor during the time of a fast.

 

OVERVIEW

 

Fasting is a natural human impulse. And it is a wonderful companion during our special times of prayer to God.

To fast is to abstain from eating. And possibly drinking. Or to follow a restricted diet.

 

OLD TESTAMENT

 

Exodus 34:28. He [Moses] was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

 

1 Kings 19:8. He [Elijah] arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, God’s Mountain.

 

Ezra 8:21. Then I [Ezra] proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a straight way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our possessions.

 

Ezra 8:23. So we fasted and begged our God for this, and he granted our request.

 

Nehemiah 1:4. When I heard these words, I sat down and wept, and mourned several days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,

 

Esther 4:16. Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.

 

Psalm 42:2. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

 

Psalm 63:1. God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.

 

Psalm 69:10. When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach.

 

Psalm 109:24. My knees are weak through fasting. My body is thin and lacks fat.

 

Psalm 143:6. I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah.

 

Isaiah 58:6. Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? (NIV translation)

 

Isaiah 58:7. Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (NIV translation)

 

Isaiah 58:8. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

 

Daniel 9:3. I [Daniel] set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

 

Daniel 10:3. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came meat nor wine into my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled.

 

Joel 2:12. “Yet even now,” says the LORD, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”

 

Jonah 3:7. He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water;

 

DEUTEROCANONICAL

 

2 Maccabees 13:12. So when they had all done the same thing together, beseeching the merciful Lord with weeping and fastings and prostration for three days without ceasing, Judas exhorted them and commanded they should join him for service.

 

Judith 8:6. And she fasted all the days of her widowhood, save the eves of the Sabbaths, and the Sabbaths, and the eves of the new moons, and the new moons, and the feasts and joyful days of the house of Israel.

 

Tobit 12:8. Prayer and fasting are good, but better than either is almsgiving accompanied by righteousness. (NAB translation)

 

NEW TESTAMENT

 

Matthew 4:2. When he [Jesus] had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward.

 

Matthew 5:6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

 

Matthew 6:16. Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.

 

Matthew 6:17. But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;

 

Matthew 6:18. so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

 

Acts 13:2. As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”

 

Acts 14:23. When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

 

2 Corinthians 6:5. in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;

 

Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.