36 Motivating Bible Verses on Fasting

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36 Motivating Bible Verses on Fasting

Isaiah 58:6 (NLT)
“No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.”

Isaiah 58:3 (NLT)
‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’ “I will tell you why! It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers.

Isaiah 58:4 (NLT)
What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me.

Isaiah 58:5 (NLT)
You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the LORD?

Isaiah 58:7 (NLT)
Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

Joel 2:12 (NLT)
That is why the LORD says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”

Joel 2:13 (NLT)
Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.

Ezra 8:23 (NLT)
So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.

Nehemiah 1:4 (NLT)
When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.

Daniel 9:3 (NLT)
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes.

Daniel 10:2-3 (NLT)
When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks. All that time I had eaten no rich food, no meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.

Matthew 4:2 (NLT)
For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.

Matthew 6:16 (NLT)
“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get.

Matthew 6:17-18 (NLT)
But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Matthew 9:14-15 (NLT)
One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?” Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Mark 2:18-20 (NLT)
Once when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, some people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples and the Pharisees?” Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. They can’t fast while the groom is with them. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Luke 2:37 (NLT)
Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer.

Luke 4:2 (NLT)
where he was tempted by the devil. For forty days he ate nothing. That time ended and he was very hungry.

Luke 5:33-35 (NLT)
One day some people said to Jesus, “John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?” Jesus responded, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Acts 13:2-3 (NLT)
One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.

Acts 14:23 (NLT)
Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord in whom they had put their trust.

Esther 4:16 (NLT)
“Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”

1 Samuel 7:6 (NLT)
So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water from a well and poured it out before the LORD. They also fasted and confessed that they had sinned against the LORD.

1 Kings 21:9-10 (NLT)
In her letters she commanded: “Call the citizens together for a time of fasting, and give Naboth a place of honor. Then seat two scoundrels across from him who will accuse him of cursing God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.”

1 Kings 21:12 (NLT)
So they called for a fast and put Naboth at a high place before the people.

Psalm 35:13 (NLT)
Yet when they were ill, I grieved for them. I denied myself by fasting for them, but my prayers returned unanswered.

Psalm 69:10 (NLT)
When I weep and fast, they scoff at me.

Jonah 3:5 (NLT)
The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.

Jonah 3:7 (NLT)
Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all.”

Jonah 3:8 (NLT)
People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence.

Zechariah 7:5 (NLT)
Say to all your people and your priests: “During these seventy years of exile when you fasted and mourned in Jerusalem, was it really for me that you were fasting?”

Zechariah 8:19 (NLT)
“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: The traditional fasts and times of mourning you have kept in early summer, midsummer, autumn, and winter are now ended. They will become festivals of joy and celebration for the people of Judah. So love truth and peace.”

Acts 27:33-34 (NLT)
Just as day was dawning, Paul urged everyone to eat. “You have been so worried that you haven’t touched food for two weeks,” he said. “Please eat something now for your own good. For not a hair of your heads will perish.”

Luke 18:12 (NLT)
I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.”

Leviticus 23:27 (NLT)
“Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of that same month—nine days after the Festival of Trumpets. You must observe it as a day of holy assembly; a day to deny yourselves* and present special gifts to the LORD.”

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