Bible verses about Fasting
Verses about fasting as a way of seeking God with a humble heart.
So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 34:28Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel, where they sat weeping before the LORD. That day they fasted until evening and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD.
Judges 20:26When they had gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted, and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.
1 Samuel 7:6David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground.
2 Samuel 12:16So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
Daniel 9:3Jehoshaphat was alarmed and set his face to seek the LORD. And he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.
2 Chronicles 20:3And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
Ezra 8:21When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Nehemiah 1:4In every province to which the king’s command and edict came, there was great mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
Esther 4:3“Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”
Esther 4:16Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered.
Psalms 35:13Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD?
Isaiah 58:5Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke?
Isaiah 58:6Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Isaiah 58:7“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”
Joel 2:12So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster.
Joel 2:13And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.
Jonah 3:5After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.
Matthew 4:2When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
Matthew 6:16But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
Matthew 6:17so that your fasting will not be obvious to men, but only to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:18Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
Matthew 9:15While 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.”
Acts 13:2And after they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
Acts 13:3Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church, praying and fasting as they entrusted them to the Lord, in whom they had believed.
Acts 14:23