What does the Bible say about fasting?
Bible Topic · WEB
The Bible presents fasting as a humble, prayerful response to God, expressing repentance, dependence, grief, and earnest seeking rather than a way to earn his favor. Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:16-18 that fasting should be done sincerely before the Father, not for human praise. Joel 2:12 joins fasting with returning to God in wholehearted repentance, while Ezra 8:23 and Esther 4:16 show God's people fasting as they seek his protection and mercy. Isaiah 58:6 warns that true fasting must be joined to justice, mercy, and care for the oppressed. In Acts 13:2 and Acts 14:23, the church fasts and prays while worshiping God and appointing leaders.
Top passages, ranked by readers
Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible
- Matthew 6:16-18 4 votes
“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. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 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.
- Joel 2:12 3 votes
“Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”
- Daniel 10:3 3 votes
I ate no pleasant food. No meat or wine came into my mouth. I didn’t anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled.
- Ezra 8:23 3 votes
So we fasted and begged our God for this, and he granted our request.
- Isaiah 58:6 2 votes
“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
- Acts 13:2 2 votes
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.”
- Psalms 69:10 2 votes
When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach.
- Acts 14:23 2 votes
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.
- Exodus 34:28 2 votes
He was there with Yahweh 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.
- Esther 4:16 2 votes
“Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Susa, 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.”
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