What Does the Bible Say About Fasting?

Isaiah 58:6

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?”

Matthew 6:16-18

“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting... But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen...”

Joel 2:12

“Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning...”

Luke 4:2

“Where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.”

Acts 13:2-3

“While 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.' Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”

Psalm 35:13

“Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers returned to me unanswered...”

Ezra 8:23

“So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.”