Fasting is one of the spiritual disciplines of the Christian and helps us to get closer to God. When we fast, we give up something physical like food to focus on strengthening our spirit and our relationship with God. Fasting is an act of humility before God and affirms our dependence on him.
Isaiah 58:2-4
Because day after day they seek me, and want to know my ways,
as if they were a nation practicing justice,
as if they had not abandoned my commandments.
They ask me for fair decisions, and they want to approach me,
and they even claim me: “Why do we fast, if you don’t take it into account?
Why do we grieve, if you don’t notice it?
But the day you fast, do business and exploit your workers.
You only fast to fight and squabble and punch each other at close range.
If you want heaven to answer your prayers, fast, but not as you do now!
(Isaiah 58:2-4)
Isaiah 58:5-9
Is the fast I have chosen just a day for man to mortify himself?
And only for him to bow his head like a reed, mourn, and cover himself with ashes?
Do you call that a fast day and the day acceptable to the Lord?
The fast that I have chosen, is it not rather to break the chains of injustice and loosen the straps of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break all ties? Isn’t fasting sharing your bread with the hungry and sheltering the poor homeless, clothing the naked and not neglecting your fellow men?
If you proceed in this way, your light will dawn like the dawn, and your healing will come instantly; your righteousness will open the way for you, and the glory of the Lord will follow you. You will call, and the Lord will answer; you will ask for help, and he will say: “Here I am!”
(Isaiah 58:5-9)
Matthew 6:16-18
When you fast, do not make a sad face like the hypocrites do, who change their faces to show that they are fasting. I assure you that these have already obtained their full reward. But you, when you fast, perfume your head and wash your face so that it is not obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is in secret; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
(Matthew 6:16-18)
Joel 2:12
Now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping and lamentation.
(Joel 2:12)
Joel 2:15
Blow the trumpet in Zion, proclaim the fast, call a solemn assembly.
(Joel 2:15)
Acts 14:21-23
After announcing the good news in that city and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to persevere in the faith. “It is necessary to go through many difficulties to enter the kingdom of God,” they were told. In each church they appointed elders and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord, in whom they had believed.
(Acts 14:21-23)
Acts 13:1-3
In the church of Antioch Barnabas were prophets and teachers; Simeon, nicknamed the Black; Lucius of Cyrene; Manaen, who had grown up with Herod the tetrarch; and Saul. As they fasted and worshiped the Lord, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
So after fasting, praying, and laying hands on them, they sent them away.
(Acts 13:1-3)
Zechariah 7:5-6
Tell all the people of the land, and also the priests:
“When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months
of the last seventy years, did they really fast for me?
And when you eat and drink, do you not do it for yourself?
(Zechariah 7:5-6)
Zechariah 8:19
Thus says the Lord Almighty: “For Judah, the fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be a cause for joy and gladness, and lively festivities. Love, then, truth and peace.”
(Zechariah 8:19)
Ezra 8:21
Then, standing near the Ahava river, I proclaimed a fast for us to humble ourselves before our God and ask him to accompany us along the way, us, our children and our possessions.
(Ezra 8:21)
Ezra 8:23
So we fasted and prayed to our God asking for his protection, and he heard us.
(Ezra 8:23)
Joel 1:14
Give in to fasting, call a solemn assembly.
Assemble the elders of the people to the house of the Lord your God;
Assemble all the inhabitants of the land, and cry out to the Lord.
(Joel 1:14)
2 Samuel 1:12
They wept and fasted until evening because Saul and his son Jonathan had fallen by the edge of the sword, and also for the army of the Lord and for the nation of Israel.
(2 Samuel 1:12)
Matthew 4:1-2
Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
(Matthew 4:1-2)
Matthew 9:14-15
One day the disciples of John approached him and asked him: How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but not so your disciples?
Jesus answered them: Can the bridegroom’s guests mourn while he is with them? The day will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
(Matthew 9:14-15)
Psalm 69:9-10
Zeal for your house consumes me;
they have fallen on me
the insults of your detractors.
When I cry and fast,
I have to put up with their offenses.
(Psalm 69:9-10)
Exodus 34:28
And Moses stayed on the mountain with the Lord for forty days and forty nights, without eating or drinking anything. There, on the tablets, he wrote the terms of the covenant, that is, the ten commandments.
(Exodus 34:28)
Daniel 9:1-3
It was the first year of the reign of Darius son of Ahasuerus, a Mede who became king of the Babylonians, when I, Daniel, was able to understand that passage of Scripture where the Lord told the prophet Jeremiah that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. years. So I began to pray and address my supplications to the Lord my God. In addition to praying, I fasted and put on mourning clothes and sat on ashes.
(Dan 9:1-3)
Daniel 10:2-3
On that occasion I, Daniel, spent three weeks as if in mourning. In all that time I did not eat anything special, I did not taste meat or wine, nor did I use any perfume.
(Daniel 10:2-3)
Deuteronomy 9:9
When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, that is, the tables of the covenant that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights, and I did not eat bread or drink water.
(Deuteronomy 9:9)
Esther 4:15-16
Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go and gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, so that they may fast for me. For three days do not eat or drink, day or night. I, for my part, will fast with my maidens as you do. When I complete this, I will appear before the king, even if it is against the law. And if I perish, may I perish!”
(Esther 4:15-16)
Luke 2:36-37
There was also a prophetess, Hannah, daughter of Penuel, from the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she married young, she had lived with her husband seven years, and then she remained a widow until the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but day and night she worshiped God with fasts and prayers.
(Luke 2:36-37)
Luke 4:1-2
Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert. There he was for forty days and was tempted by the devil. He did not eat anything during those days, after which he was hungry.
(Luke 4:1-2)
Judges 20:26
So the Israelites, with all the people, went up to Bethel, and there they sat and wept in the presence of the Lord. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord.
(Judges 20:26)
Mark 9:28-29
When Jesus entered the house, his disciples privately asked him: Why couldn’t we drive him out?
“This class of demons can only be expelled by force of prayer and fasting,” answered Jesus.
(Mark 9:28-29)
Luke 5:33-35
Some said to Jesus: The disciples of John fast and pray often, just like the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours spend their time eating and drinking.
Jesus replied: Can you force the bridegroom’s guests to fast while he is with them? The day will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.
(Luke 5:33-35)
Jonah 3:5-10
And the Ninevites believed God, proclaimed a fast and, from the oldest to the youngest, dressed in mourning as a sign of repentance.
When the king of Nineveh learned of the message, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robe, mourned, and covered himself with ashes. He then commanded that it be proclaimed in Nineveh:
By decree of the king and his court:
“No person or animal, neither sheep nor cattle, will taste any food, nor will they graze or drink water. On the contrary, the king commands that every person, along with his animals, mourn and cry out to God with all his might. He likewise commands everyone to turn from his evil ways and from his violent deeds. Who knows! Perhaps God will change his mind, and calm the burning of his anger, and we will not perish ».
When God saw what they did, that is, that they had turned from their evil way, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction that he had announced to them.
(Jonah 3:5-10)
2 Samuel 12:16-17
David began to pray to God for him; he fasted and spent his nights lying on the ground. His court elders came to see him and begged him to get up, but he resisted, even refusing to eat with them.
(2 Samuel 12:16-17)
2 Samuel 12:22-23
David replied: It is true that when the child was alive I fasted and wept, for I thought: “Who knows? Perhaps the Lord will have mercy on me and let the child live.” But now that he is dead, what reason do I have to fast? Can I bring him back to life? I will go where he is, even though he will never come back to me.
(2 Samuel 12:22-23)
Luke 18:11-12
The Pharisee began to pray with himself: “O God, I thank you that I am not like other men—thieves, criminals, adulterers—much less like that tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of everything I receive.”
(Luke 18:11-12)
1 Corinthians 7:5
Do not deny each other, unless by mutual agreement, and only for a time, to dedicate yourself to prayer. Don’t be long in coming together again; Otherwise, they may fall into the temptation of Satan, due to lack of self-control.
(1 Corinthians 7:5)
1 Samuel 7:6
When the Israelites gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They also fasted during the day, publicly confessing, “We have sinned against the Lord.” It was at Mizpah that Samuel began to rule the Israelites.
(1 Samuel 7:6)
Leviticus 16:29-31
This will be for you a perpetual statute, both for the native and for the foreigner: On the tenth day of the seventh month you will fast and you will not do any kind of work. On that day propitiation will be made for you to purify you, and before the Lord you will be purified from all your sins. It will be for you a day of complete rest, in which you will fast. It is a perpetual statute.
(Leviticus 16:29-31)
Nehemiah 1:4
Hearing this, I sat down to cry; I mourned for a few days, fasted and prayed to the God of heaven.
(Nehemiah 1:4)
Nehemiah 9:1-3
On the twenty-fourth day of that month the Israelites came together to fast, put on mourning clothes and…