Category
VERSES ABOUT FASTING
Fasting helps me grow closer to God and strengthens my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I try not to see it as something I do for my own benefit, but as a way to improve my walk with God. It's a voluntary choice, a time when I set aside the physical need for food to nourish my spirit. It's a special time to seek God's presence, which is why I find it helpful to fast in a quiet place where I can talk with Him alone.
The Bible talks about this too. Daniel 9:31 says, "So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes." It's really inspiring to see how people in the Bible sought God through fasting.
“And when you fast, don’t put on a sad face like the hypocrites. They distort their faces so people will know they are fasting. I assure you that they have their reward.When you fast, brush your hair and wash your face.Then you won’t look like you are fasting to people, but only to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Isn’t this the fast I choose: releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke, setting free the mistreated, and breaking every yoke?Isn’t it sharing your bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless poor into your house, covering the naked when you see them, and not hiding from your own family?
Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your hearts, with fasting, with weeping, and with sorrow;tear your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, very patient, full of faithful love, and ready to forgive.
I then turned my face to my Lord God, asking for an answer with prayer and pleading, and with fasting, mourning clothes, and ashes.
As they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul to the work I have called them to undertake.”After they fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on these two and sent them off.
God saw what they were doing—that they had ceased their evil behavior. So God stopped planning to destroy them, and he didn’t do it.And the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on mourning clothes, from the greatest of them to the least significant.When word of it reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, stripped himself of his robe, covered himself with mourning clothes, and sat in ashes.Then he announced, “In Nineveh, by decree of the king and his officials: Neither human nor animal, cattle nor flock, will taste anything! No grazing and no drinking water!Let humans and animals alike put on mourning clothes, and let them call upon God forcefully! And let all persons stop their evil behavior and the violence that’s under their control!”He thought, Who knows? God may see this and turn from his wrath, so that we might not perish.
Then I called for a fast there at the Ahava River so that we might submit before our God and ask of him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions.I had been ashamed to ask the king for a group of soldiers and cavalry to help us in facing enemies on the way, because we had told the king, “The power of God favors all who seek him, but his fierce wrath is against all who abandon him.”So we fasted and prayed to our God for this, and he responded to us.
Frightened, Jehoshaphat decided to seek the LORD’s help and proclaimed a fast for all Judah.People from all of Judah’s cities came to ask the LORD for help.
When I heard this news, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Jesus returned from the Jordan River full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.There he was tempted for forty days by the devil. He ate nothing during those days and afterward Jesus was starving.
Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He didn’t eat any bread or drink any water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words.
They appointed elders for each church. With prayer and fasting, they committed these elders to the Lord, in whom they had placed their trust.
But when they were sick, I wore clothes for grieving, and I kept a strict fast. When my prayer came back unanswered, I would wander around like I was grieving a friend or a brother. I was weighed down, sad, like I was a mother in mourning.
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and put mourning clothes on his body. He fasted, even slept in mourning clothes, and walked around depressed.The LORD’s word then came to Elijah from Tishbe:Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has done so, I won’t bring the evil during his lifetime. Instead, I will bring the evil on his household in the days of his son.
At that time John’s disciples came and asked Jesus, “Why do we and the Pharisees frequently fast, but your disciples never fast?”Jesus responded, “The wedding guests can’t mourn while the groom is still with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they’ll fast.
During that time, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three weeks.I didn’t eat any rich foods. Neither meat nor wine passed my lips, and I didn’t clean up at all until the three weeks were up.
“Why do we fast and you don’t see; why afflict ourselves and you don’t notice?” Yet on your fast day you do whatever you want, and oppress all your workers.You quarrel and brawl, and then you fast; you hit each other violently with your fists. You shouldn’t fast as you are doing today if you want to make your voice heard on high.Is this the kind of fast I choose, a day of self-affliction, of bending one’s head like a reed and of lying down in mourning clothing and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the people of Israel were assembled. They fasted, wore funeral clothing, and had dirt on their heads.After the Israelites separated themselves from all of the foreigners, they stood to confess their sins and the terrible behavior of their ancestors.
Say to all the land’s people and to the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth month and the seventh month for these past seventy years, did you fast for me?
So they assembled at Mizpah, and they drew water and poured it out in the LORD’s presence. They fasted that same day and confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” Samuel served as judge of the Israelites at Mizpah.
Don’t refuse to meet each other’s needs unless you both agree for a short period of time to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come back together again so that Satan might not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
“Go, gather all the Jews who are in Susa and tell them to give up eating to help me be brave. They aren’t to eat or drink anything for three whole days, and I myself will do the same, along with my female servants. Then, even though it’s against the law, I will go to the king; and if I am to die, then die I will.”
Demand a fast, request a special assembly. Gather the elders and all the land’s people to the temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
Then all the Israelite troops went back up to Bethel and wept, just sitting there in the LORD’s presence. They fasted that whole day until evening. Then they offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices to the LORD.
Elijah got up, ate and drank, and went refreshed by that food for forty days and nights until he arrived at Horeb, God’s mountain.
Cornelius answered, “Four days ago at this same time, three o’clock in the afternoon, I was praying at home. Suddenly a man in radiant clothing stood before me.He said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayers, and your compassionate acts are like a memorial offering to him.
The king then went home to his palace and fasted through the night. No pleasures were brought to him, and he couldn’t sleep.
And the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on mourning clothes, from the greatest of them to the least significant.
Then you won’t look like you are fasting to people, but only to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
When they fast, I won’t pay attention to their pleas, and when they offer entirely burned offerings and grain offerings, I won’t accept them. Instead, I will devour them with war, famine, and disease.
The LORD of heavenly forces proclaims: The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will become times of joy and gladness, pleasant feasts for the house of Judah. Love truth and peace!
But when they were sick, I wore clothes for grieving, and I kept a strict fast. When my prayer came back unanswered,
Blow the horn in Zion; demand a fast; request a special assembly.Gather the people; prepare a holy meeting; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the groom leave his room and the bride her chamber.
Rather, I’m landing punches on my own body and subduing it like a slave. I do this to be sure that I myself won’t be disqualified after preaching to others.
When I heard this news, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.I said: “LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, you are the one who keeps covenant and is truly faithful to those who love you and keep your commandments.Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant, which I now pray before you night and day for your servants, the people of Israel. “I confess the sins of the people of Israel, which we have committed against you. Both I and my family have sinned.
So that is what took place year after year. Whenever Hannah went to the Lord’s house, Peninnah would make fun of her. Then she would cry and wouldn’t eat anything.“Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah would say to her. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you so sad? Aren’t I worth more to you than ten sons?”
As they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul to the work I have called them to undertake.”
She was now an 84-year-old widow. She never left the temple area but worshipped God with fasting and prayer night and day.
This is what she wrote in the letters: “Announce a fast and place Naboth at the head of the people.
While I was still speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sins of my people Israel—while I was still praying my prayer for help to the LORD my God about my God’s holy mountain—while I was still speaking this prayer, the man Gabriel approached me at the time of the evening offering. This was the same Gabriel I had seen in my earlier vision. He was weary with exhaustion. He explained as he spoke with me: “Daniel, here’s why I’ve come: to give you insight and understanding.When you began making your requests, a word went out, and I’ve come to tell it to you because you are greatly treasured. So now understand this word and grasp the meaning of this vision!
They mourned and cried and fasted until evening for Saul, his son Jonathan, the LORD’s army, and the whole house of Israel, because they had died by the sword.
Then all the Israelite troops went back up to Bethel and wept, just sitting there in the LORD’s presence. They fasted that whole day until evening. Then they offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices to the LORD.Now in those days the chest containing God’s covenant was there,and Phinehas, Eleazar’s son and Aaron’s grandson, was in charge of ministering before it. The Israelites asked the LORD, “Should we march out once again to fight our relatives the Benjaminites or should we give up?” And the LORD replied, “March up, for I’ll hand them to you tomorrow.”
Demand a fast, request a special assembly. Gather the elders and all the land’s people to the temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.What a terrible day! The day of the LORD is near; it comes like chaos from the Almighty.
Their aim was to make sure that the Jews kept these days of Purim at the proper time, following the rule that Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had made. The rule fit well with what they themselves had agreed to do forever and with other things they did—like fasting and lamenting.
Shout loudly; don’t hold back; raise your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their crime, to the house of Jacob their sins.They seek me day after day, desiring knowledge of my ways like a nation that acted righteously, that didn’t abandon their God. They ask me for righteous judgments, wanting to be close to God.“Why do we fast and you don’t see; why afflict ourselves and you don’t notice?” Yet on your fast day you do whatever you want, and oppress all your workers.You quarrel and brawl, and then you fast; you hit each other violently with your fists. You shouldn’t fast as you are doing today if you want to make your voice heard on high.Is this the kind of fast I choose, a day of self-affliction, of bending one’s head like a reed and of lying down in mourning clothing and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?Isn’t this the fast I choose: releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke, setting free the mistreated, and breaking every yoke?Isn’t it sharing your bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless poor into your house, covering the naked when you see them, and not hiding from your own family?Then your light will break out like the dawn, and you will be healed quickly. Your own righteousness will walk before you, and the LORD’s glory will be your rear guard.Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and God will say, “I’m here.” If you remove the yoke from among you, the finger-pointing, the wicked speech;
Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him.After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving.The tempter came to him and said, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.”Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.”
if my people who belong to me will humbly pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Just before daybreak, Paul urged everyone to eat. He said, “This is the fourteenth day you’ve lived in suspense, and you’ve not had even a bite to eat.I urge you to take some food. Your health depends on it. None of you will lose a single hair from his head.”
The king then went home to his palace and fasted through the night. No pleasures were brought to him, and he couldn’t sleep.At dawn, at the first sign of light, the king rose and rushed to the lions’ pit.As he approached it, he called out to Daniel, worried: “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God—the one you serve so consistently—able to rescue you from the lions?”
Jesus responded, “The wedding guests can’t mourn while the groom is still with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they’ll fast.
I wept while I fasted— even for that I was insulted.Because passion for your house has consumed me, the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me!
In the ninth month of the fifth year of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, all the people in Jerusalem and all those who had come from Judean towns observed a fast for the LORD in Jerusalem.
When word of it reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, stripped himself of his robe, covered himself with mourning clothes, and sat in ashes.Then he announced, “In Nineveh, by decree of the king and his officials: Neither human nor animal, cattle nor flock, will taste anything! No grazing and no drinking water!Let humans and animals alike put on mourning clothes, and let them call upon God forcefully! And let all persons stop their evil behavior and the violence that’s under their control!”He thought, Who knows? God may see this and turn from his wrath, so that we might not perish.
Then Ezra got up from the area in front of God’s house and went to the room of Jehohanan, Eliashib’s son, where he spent the night. He didn’t eat food or drink water, for he was mourning because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles.
Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.
On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the people of Israel were assembled. They fasted, wore funeral clothing, and had dirt on their heads.After the Israelites separated themselves from all of the foreigners, they stood to confess their sins and the terrible behavior of their ancestors.They stood in their place and read the Instruction scroll from the LORD their God for a quarter of the day. For another quarter of the day, they confessed and worshipped the LORD their God.
I faced these dangers with hard work and heavy labor, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, and in the cold without enough clothes.
When I went up on the mountain to get the stone tablets, the covenant tablets that the LORD made with you, I was up there forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread, drank no water.
Then all the Israelite troops went back up to Bethel and wept, just sitting there in the LORD’s presence. They fasted that whole day until evening. Then they offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices to the LORD.Now in those days the chest containing God’s covenant was there,
Now the Israelite soldiers were in a difficult situation that day because Saul had bound the troops by a solemn pledge: “Anyone who eats anything before evening when I have taken revenge on my enemies is doomed.” So none of the army ate anything.
“And when you fast, don’t put on a sad face like the hypocrites. They distort their faces so people will know they are fasting. I assure you that they have their reward.
I didn’t eat any rich foods. Neither meat nor wine passed my lips, and I didn’t clean up at all until the three weeks were up.
But you, LORD, my Lord!— act on my behalf for the sake of your name; deliver me because your faithful love is so good;because I am poor and needy, and my heart is broken.Like a lengthening shadow, I’m passing away; I’m shaken off, like some locust.My legs are weak from fasting; my body is skin and bones.
Then I called for a fast there at the Ahava River so that we might submit before our God and ask of him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions.
Let humans and animals alike put on mourning clothes, and let them call upon God forcefully! And let all persons stop their evil behavior and the violence that’s under their control!”
Moses entered the cloud and went up the mountain. Moses stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.
At that time John’s disciples came and asked Jesus, “Why do we and the Pharisees frequently fast, but your disciples never fast?”Jesus responded, “The wedding guests can’t mourn while the groom is still with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they’ll fast.“No one sews a piece of new, unshrunk cloth on old clothes because the patch tears away the cloth and makes a worse tear.No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If they did, the wineskins would burst, the wine would spill, and the wineskins would be ruined. Instead, people pour new wine into new wineskins so that both are kept safe.”
At the same time, in every province and place where the king’s order and his new law arrived, a very great sadness came over the Jews. They gave up eating and spent whole days weeping and crying out loudly in pain. Many Jews lay on the ground in mourning clothes and ashes.
Frightened, Jehoshaphat decided to seek the LORD’s help and proclaimed a fast for all Judah.
if you open your heart to the hungry, and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted, your light will shine in the darkness, and your gloom will be like the noon.The LORD will guide you continually and provide for you, even in parched places. He will rescue your bones. You will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water that won’t run dry.They will rebuild ancient ruins on your account; the foundations of generations past you will restore. You will be called Mender of Broken Walls, Restorer of Livable Streets.Isn’t this the fast I choose: releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke, setting free the mistreated, and breaking every yoke?Isn’t it sharing your bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless poor into your house, covering the naked when you see them, and not hiding from your own family?Then your light will break out like the dawn, and you will be healed quickly. Your own righteousness will walk before you, and the LORD’s glory will be your rear guard.Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and God will say, “I’m here.” If you remove the yoke from among you, the finger-pointing, the wicked speech;
They are your servants and your people. They are the ones whom you have redeemed by your great power and your strong hand.“LORD, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in honoring your name. Please give success to your servant today and grant him favor in the presence of this man!”When I heard this news, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.I said: “LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, you are the one who keeps covenant and is truly faithful to those who love you and keep your commandments.Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant, which I now pray before you night and day for your servants, the people of Israel. “I confess the sins of the people of Israel, which we have committed against you. Both I and my family have sinned.We have wronged you greatly. We haven’t kept the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances that you commanded your servant Moses.“Remember the word that you gave to your servant Moses when you said, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples.But if you return to me and keep my commandments by really doing them, then, even though your outcasts live under distant skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place that I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.’
“Why not test your servants for ten days? You could give us a diet of vegetables to eat and water to drink.
So they assembled at Mizpah, and they drew water and poured it out in the LORD’s presence. They fasted that same day and confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” Samuel served as judge of the Israelites at Mizpah.When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had assembled at Mizpah, the Philistine rulers went up to attack Israel. When the Israelites learned of this, they were afraid of the Philistines.The Israelites said to Samuel, “Please don’t stop praying to the LORD our God for us, so God will save us from the Philistines’ power!”
At the time of the evening sacrifice, I ended my penitential acts. While still wearing my torn clothes and cloak, I fell upon my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God,
Cornelius answered, “Four days ago at this same time, three o’clock in the afternoon, I was praying at home. Suddenly a man in radiant clothing stood before me.
The man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half your palace, I wouldn’t go with you, nor would I eat food or drink water in this place.This is what God commanded me by the LORD’s word: Don’t eat food! Don’t drink water! Don’t return by the way you came!”
Then the man said to me, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel, because from the day you first set your mind to understand things and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I’ve come because of your words!For twenty-one days the leader of the Persian kingdom blocked my way. But then Michael, one of the highest leaders, came to help me. I left Michael there with the leader of the Persian kingdom.
Just like a deer that craves streams of water, my whole being craves you, God. My whole being thirsts for God, for the living God. When will I come and see God’s face?
I gathered them by the river that runs to Ahava, and there we camped for three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found no Levites there.So I called for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, all leaders, together with Joiarib and Elnathan, who were wise.I sent them to Iddo, the leader at the place named Casiphia, telling them what to say to Iddo and his colleagues the temple servants at Casiphia, namely, to send us ministers for God’s house.Because we were favored by God, they brought us Sherebiah, a skillful man of the family of Mahli, Levi’s son and Israel’s grandson, together with his sons and relatives so that there were eighteen in total.They also brought us Hashabiah and with him Jeshaiah of the family of Merari, together with his relatives and their sons so that there were twenty in total.In addition, there were two hundred twenty temple servants whom David and the princes had appointed to serve the Levites. These were all recorded by name.Then I called for a fast there at the Ahava River so that we might submit before our God and ask of him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions.I had been ashamed to ask the king for a group of soldiers and cavalry to help us in facing enemies on the way, because we had told the king, “The power of God favors all who seek him, but his fierce wrath is against all who abandon him.”So we fasted and prayed to our God for this, and he responded to us.
Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him.Jesus responded, “Go away, Satan, because it’s written, You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”The devil left him, and angels came and took care of him.After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving.The tempter came to him and said, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.”Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.” After that the devil brought him into the holy city and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him,“Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down; for it is written, I will command my angels concerning you, and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.” Jesus replied, “Again it’s written, Don’t test the Lord your God.” Then the devil brought him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.He said, “I’ll give you all these if you bow down and worship me.”
Some people said to Jesus, “The disciples of John fast often and pray frequently. The disciples of the Pharisees do the same, but your disciples are always eating and drinking.”Jesus replied, “You can’t make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you?The days will come when the groom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.”
Now in those days the chest containing God’s covenant was there,and Phinehas, Eleazar’s son and Aaron’s grandson, was in charge of ministering before it. The Israelites asked the LORD, “Should we march out once again to fight our relatives the Benjaminites or should we give up?” And the LORD replied, “March up, for I’ll hand them to you tomorrow.”
In the first year of Darius’ rule—Darius, who was Ahasuerus’ son, a Median by birth and who ruled the Chaldean kingdom—I, Daniel, pondered the scrolls, specifically the number of years that it would take to complete Jerusalem’s desolation according to the LORD’s word to the prophet Jeremiah. It was seventy years.I then turned my face to my Lord God, asking for an answer with prayer and pleading, and with fasting, mourning clothes, and ashes.
Then Nathan went home. The LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne for David, and he became very sick.David begged God for the boy. He fasted and spent the night sleeping on the ground.The senior servants of his house approached him to lift him up off the ground, but he refused, and he wouldn’t eat with them either. On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child had died. “David wouldn’t listen to us when we talked to him while the child was still alive,” they said. “How can we tell him the child has died? He’ll do something terrible!”But when David saw his servants whispering, he realized the child had died. “Is the child dead?” David asked his servants. “Yes,” they said, “he is dead.”Then David rose from the ground, bathed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He entered the LORD’s house and bowed down. Then he entered his own house. He requested food, which was brought to him, and he ate.“Why are you acting this way?” his servants asked. “When the child was alive, you fasted and cried and kept watch, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat food!” David replied, “While the child was alive I fasted and wept because I thought, Who knows? The LORD may have mercy on me and let the child live.But he is dead now. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? No. I am going where he is, but he won’t come back to me.”
Dress for a funeral and grieve, you priests; lament, ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in funeral clothing, servants of my God, because the grain offering and the drink offering have gone from the temple of your God.Demand a fast, request a special assembly. Gather the elders and all the land’s people to the temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
They are your servants and your people. They are the ones whom you have redeemed by your great power and your strong hand.“LORD, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in honoring your name. Please give success to your servant today and grant him favor in the presence of this man!”I said: “LORD God of heaven, great and awesome God, you are the one who keeps covenant and is truly faithful to those who love you and keep your commandments.Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant, which I now pray before you night and day for your servants, the people of Israel. “I confess the sins of the people of Israel, which we have committed against you. Both I and my family have sinned.We have wronged you greatly. We haven’t kept the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances that you commanded your servant Moses.“Remember the word that you gave to your servant Moses when you said, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples.But if you return to me and keep my commandments by really doing them, then, even though your outcasts live under distant skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place that I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.’
I wept while I fasted— even for that I was insulted.When I wore funeral clothes, people made fun of me.
if you open your heart to the hungry, and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted, your light will shine in the darkness, and your gloom will be like the noon.The LORD will guide you continually and provide for you, even in parched places. He will rescue your bones. You will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water that won’t run dry.
but the chief official said to Daniel, “I’m afraid of my master, the king, who has mandated what you are to eat and drink. What will happen if he sees your faces looking thinner than the other young men in your group? The king will have my head because of you!”So Daniel spoke to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:“Why not test your servants for ten days? You could give us a diet of vegetables to eat and water to drink.Then compare our appearance to the appearance of the young men who eat the king’s food. Then deal with your servants according to what you see.”The guard decided to go along with their plan and tested them for ten days.At the end of ten days they looked better and healthier than all the young men who were eating the king’s food.So the guard kept taking away their rations and the wine they were supposed to drink and gave them vegetables instead.Daniel decided that he wouldn’t pollute himself with the king’s rations or the royal wine, and he appealed to the chief official in hopes that he wouldn’t have to do so.Now God had established faithful loyalty between Daniel and the chief official;
But when you pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you.
I gathered them by the river that runs to Ahava, and there we camped for three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found no Levites there.
David said to the priest Abiathar, Ahimelech’s son, “Bring the priestly vest to me.” So Abiathar brought it to David. Then David asked the LORD, “Should I go after this raiding party? Will I catch them?” “Yes, go after them!” God answered. “You will definitely catch them and will succeed in the rescue!”
God! My God! It’s you— I search for you! My whole being thirsts for you! My body desires you in a dry and tired land, no water anywhere.Yes, I’ve seen you in the sanctuary; I’ve seen your power and glory.My lips praise you because your faithful love is better than life itself!So I will bless you as long as I’m alive; I will lift up my hands in your name.I’m fully satisfied— as with a rich dinner. My mouth speaks praise with joy on my lips—
He prayed to the LORD, “Come on, LORD! Wasn’t this precisely my point when I was back in my own land? This is why I fled to Tarshish earlier! I know that you are a merciful and compassionate God, very patient, full of faithful love, and willing not to destroy.
Even strong young lions go without and get hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.Taste and see how good the LORD is! The one who takes refuge in him is truly happy!You who are the LORD’s holy ones, honor him, because those who honor him don’t lack a thing.
My very being longs, even yearns, for the LORD’s courtyards. My heart and my body will rejoice out loud to the living God!
Let them thank the LORD for his faithful love and his wondrous works for all people,because God satisfied the one who was parched with thirst, and he filled up the hungry with good things!
There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, who belonged to the tribe of Asher. She was very old. After she married, she lived with her husband for seven years.She was now an 84-year-old widow. She never left the temple area but worshipped God with fasting and prayer night and day.
“Go, eat rich food, and drink something sweet,” he said to them, “and send portions of this to any who have nothing ready! This day is holy to our LORD. Don’t be sad, because the joy from the LORD is your strength!”
Then the LORD became passionate about this land, and had pity on his people. The LORD responded to the people: See, I am sending you the corn, new wine, and fresh oil, and you will be fully satisfied by it; and I will no longer make you a disgrace among the nations.
Mordecai wrote these things down and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces, both near and far, of King Ahasuerus.He made it a rule that Jews keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar as special days each and every year.They are the days on which the Jews finally put to rest the troubles with their enemies. The month is the one when everything turned around for them from sadness to joy, and from sad, loud crying to a holiday. They are to make them days of feasts and joyous events, days to send food gifts to each other and money gifts to the poor.
The church at Antioch included prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (nicknamed Niger), Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen (a childhood friend of Herod the ruler), and Saul.As they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul to the work I have called them to undertake.”After they fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on these two and sent them off.
If you stop trampling the Sabbath, stop doing whatever you want on my holy day, and consider the Sabbath a delight, sacred to the LORD, honored, and honor it instead of doing things your way, seeking what you want and doing business as usual,then you will take delight in the LORD. I will let you ride on the heights of the earth; I will sustain you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Some time later, the Moabites and the Ammonites, along with some of the Meunites, attacked Jehoshaphat.So look here! The Ammonites, the Moabites, and those from Mount Seir—the people you wouldn’t let Israel invade when they came out of Egypt’s land, so Israel avoided them and didn’t destroy them—here they are, returning the favor by coming to drive us out of your possession that you gave to us!Our God, won’t you punish them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We don’t know what to do, and so we are looking to you for help.”All Judah was standing before the LORD, even their little ones, wives, and children.Then the LORD’s spirit came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah son of Benaiah son of Jeiel son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the line of Asaph, as he stood in the middle of the assembly.“Pay attention, all of Judah, every inhabitant of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat,” Jahaziel said. “This is what the LORD says to you: Don’t be afraid or discouraged by this great army because the battle isn’t yours. It belongs to God!March out against them tomorrow. Since they will be coming through the Ziz pass, meet them at the end of the valley that opens into the Jeruel wilderness.You don’t need to fight this battle. Just take your places, stand ready, and watch how the LORD, who is with you, will deliver you, Judah and Jerusalem. Don’t be afraid or discouraged! Go out tomorrow and face them. The LORD will be with you.”Then Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD in worship.Levites from the lines of Kohath and Korah stood up to loudly praise the LORD, the God of Israel.Jehoshaphat was told, “A large army from beyond the sea, from Edom, is coming to attack you. They are already at Hazazon-tamar!” (that is, En-gedi).Early the next morning they went into the Tekoa wilderness. When they were about to go out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and every inhabitant of Jerusalem! Trust the LORD your God, and you will stand firm; trust his prophets and succeed!”After consulting with the people, Jehoshaphat appointed musicians to play for the LORD, praising his majestic holiness. They were to march out before the warriors, saying, “Give thanks to the LORD because his faithful love lasts forever!”As they broke into joyful song and praise, the LORD launched a surprise attack against the Ammonites, the Moabites, and those from Mount Seir who were invading Judah, so that they were defeated.The Ammonites and the Moabites turned on those from Mount Seir, completely destroying them. Once they had finished off the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy each other!When Judah arrived at the point overlooking the wilderness, all they could see were corpses lying all over the ground. There were no survivors.When Jehoshaphat and his army came to take the loot, they found a great amount of cattle, goods, clothing, and other valuables—much more than they could carry. In fact, there was so much it took three days to haul it away.On the fourth day they assembled in Blessing Valley, where they blessed the LORD. That’s why it is called Blessing Valley to this day.Then everyone from Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat at their head, joyfully returned home to Jerusalem because the LORD had given them reason to rejoice over their enemies.They entered Jerusalem accompanied by harps, lutes, and trumpets, and they went to the LORD’s temple.The fear of God came on all the surrounding kingdoms when they heard how the LORD had fought against Israel’s enemies.Frightened, Jehoshaphat decided to seek the LORD’s help and proclaimed a fast for all Judah.As a result, Jehoshaphat’s rule was peaceful because his God gave him rest on all sides.People from all of Judah’s cities came to ask the LORD for help.Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the LORD’s temple in front of the new courtyard.“LORD, the God of our ancestors, you alone are God in heaven. You rule all the kingdoms of the nations. You are so powerful that no one can oppose you.You, our God, drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave this land to the descendants of your friend Abraham forever.They have lived in it and have built a sanctuary in honor of your name in it, saying,‘If calamity, sword, flood, plague, or famine comes upon us, we will stand before this temple, before you, because your name is in this temple. We will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’
So Daniel spoke to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:“Why not test your servants for ten days? You could give us a diet of vegetables to eat and water to drink.
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and put mourning clothes on his body. He fasted, even slept in mourning clothes, and walked around depressed.
Then the Israelites marched up to Bethel to ask for direction from God. They inquired, “Who should go up first to fight against the Benjaminites for us?” And the LORD said, “Let the tribe of Judah be first.”So the next morning, the Israelites got up and camped near Gibeah.They marched out to fight against the Benjaminites, lining up in battle formation against them at Gibeah.But the Benjaminites marched out from Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelite men that day.The Israelite troops regrouped and lined up in battle formation again in the same place they had lined up the first day.So the Israelites went back up and wept before the LORD until evening. They asked the LORD, “Should we move in again to fight our relatives the Benjaminites?” And the LORD replied, “March out against them.”The Israelites moved in against the Benjaminites the second day.But the Benjaminites marched out of Gibeah to meet them on that second day and cut down another eighteen thousand Israelite men, all of whom were armed with swords.Then all the Israelite troops went back up to Bethel and wept, just sitting there in the LORD’s presence. They fasted that whole day until evening. Then they offered entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices to the LORD.
After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving.The tempter came to him and said, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.”Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.”
if you open your heart to the hungry, and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted, your light will shine in the darkness, and your gloom will be like the noon.Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and God will say, “I’m here.” If you remove the yoke from among you, the finger-pointing, the wicked speech;
Demand a fast, request a special assembly. Gather the elders and all the land’s people to the temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.What a terrible day! The day of the LORD is near; it comes like chaos from the Almighty. Isn’t the food cut off right before our eyes? Aren’t joy and gladness also gone from our God’s house?
God saw what they were doing—that they had ceased their evil behavior. So God stopped planning to destroy them, and he didn’t do it.Then he announced, “In Nineveh, by decree of the king and his officials: Neither human nor animal, cattle nor flock, will taste anything! No grazing and no drinking water!Let humans and animals alike put on mourning clothes, and let them call upon God forcefully! And let all persons stop their evil behavior and the violence that’s under their control!”He thought, Who knows? God may see this and turn from his wrath, so that we might not perish.
They stood in their place and read the Instruction scroll from the LORD their God for a quarter of the day. For another quarter of the day, they confessed and worshipped the LORD their God.
Then Nathan went home. The LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne for David, and he became very sick.David begged God for the boy. He fasted and spent the night sleeping on the ground.
The king then went home to his palace and fasted through the night. No pleasures were brought to him, and he couldn’t sleep.At dawn, at the first sign of light, the king rose and rushed to the lions’ pit.As he approached it, he called out to Daniel, worried: “Daniel, servant of the living God! Was your God—the one you serve so consistently—able to rescue you from the lions?”Then Daniel answered the king: “Long live the king!My God sent his messenger, who shut the lions’ mouths. They haven’t touched me because I was judged innocent before my God. I haven’t done anything wrong to you either, Your Majesty.”The king was thrilled. He commanded that Daniel be brought up out of the pit, and Daniel was lifted out. Not a scratch was found on him, because he trusted in his God.The king then ordered that the men who had accused Daniel be brought and thrown into the lions’ pit—including their wives and children. They hadn’t even reached the bottom of the pit before the lions overpowered them, crushing all their bones.
There he was tempted for forty days by the devil. He ate nothing during those days and afterward Jesus was starving.
Instantly, flakes fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. He got up and was baptized.After eating, he regained his strength. He stayed with the disciples in Damascus for several days.
Then Ezra got up from the area in front of God’s house and went to the room of Jehohanan, Eliashib’s son, where he spent the night. He didn’t eat food or drink water, for he was mourning because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles. An order was then circulated throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the returned exiles should gather in Jerusalem.All those who failed to appear within three days, as mandated by the officials and elders, would have all their property taken away. They would be separated from the congregation of the exiles.
Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your hearts, with fasting, with weeping, and with sorrow;
In the third year of Persia’s King Cyrus, a message was revealed to Daniel, who was called Belteshazzar. The message was true: there would be a great conflict. Daniel understood the message, having discerned the meaning of the vision.During that time, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three weeks.I didn’t eat any rich foods. Neither meat nor wine passed my lips, and I didn’t clean up at all until the three weeks were up.
Everyone who competes practices self-discipline in everything. The runners do this to get a crown of leaves that shrivel up and die, but we do it to receive a crown that never dies.So now this is how I run—not without a clear goal in sight. I fight like a boxer in the ring, not like someone who is shadowboxing.Rather, I’m landing punches on my own body and subduing it like a slave. I do this to be sure that I myself won’t be disqualified after preaching to others.
God! My God! It’s you— I search for you! My whole being thirsts for you! My body desires you in a dry and tired land, no water anywhere.
As I prayed to the LORD my God, I made this confession: Please, my Lord—you are the great and awesome God, the one who keeps the covenant, and truly faithful to all who love him and keep his commands:We have sinned and done wrong. We have brought guilt on ourselves and rebelled, ignoring your commands and your laws.We haven’t listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our leaders, our parents, and to all the land’s people.
Some people said to Jesus, “The disciples of John fast often and pray frequently. The disciples of the Pharisees do the same, but your disciples are always eating and drinking.”