Fasting
practiceAbstaining from food as a discipline of spiritual focus and dependence on God.
Not just a list of verses — a map of how ideas in Scripture connect and lead to each other.
Follow the flow
Fasting connects to different paths in Scripture:
Fasting leads to Faith and Holiness.
Reading Path
Follow this theme through Scripture — one verse per step, in theological order.
“Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:”Joel 2:12 →
“Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”Romans 2:4 →
“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”Habakkuk 2:4 →
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”Ephesians 2:8 →
Relationships
Anchor Scriptures 18 verses
“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”
Read in context →“So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.”
Read in context →“Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:”
Read in context →“And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:”
Read in context →“And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.”
Read in context →“Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.”
Read in context →“Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.”
Read in context →“But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.”
Read in context →“Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.”
Read in context →“Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.”
Read in context →“And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.”
Read in context →“David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.”
Read in context →“And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.”
Read in context →“As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”
Read in context →“Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.”
Read in context →“Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.”
Read in context →“And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.”
Read in context →“And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.”
Read in context →