Bible verses about fasting show why God’s people have set aside food to seek Him, from Moses and Esther to Jesus and the early church. Scripture explains the heart behind fasting and warns against turning it into an empty show.
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. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 6:16-18 (KJV)
Jesus teaches that fasting should be done quietly before the Father, not to impress others.
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? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Isaiah 58:6-7 (KJV)
God describes the fast He chooses: loosing bonds, freeing the oppressed and feeding the hungry.
Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
Joel 2:12-13 (KJV)
God calls His people to return with fasting, weeping and torn hearts rather than torn garments.
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Matthew 4:1-2 (KJV)
Jesus fasted forty days and nights in the wilderness before His ministry began.
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. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
Acts 13:2-3 (KJV)
The Antioch church fasted and prayed before sending out Barnabas and Saul.
And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
Acts 14:23 (KJV)
Paul and Barnabas prayed with fasting when appointing elders in the churches.
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.
Esther 4:16 (KJV)
Esther asked the Jews to fast for three days before she approached the king.
Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him. So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.
Ezra 8:21-23 (KJV)
Ezra proclaimed a fast to seek God’s protection, and God answered.
So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
Jonah 3:5 (KJV)
The people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast in repentance.
And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
Daniel 9:3 (KJV)
Daniel sought God by prayer, supplications, fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
Daniel 10:2-3 (KJV)
Daniel mourned three weeks, eating no pleasant bread or meat.
And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
Luke 2:37 (KJV)
The widow Anna served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
Mark 2:18-20 (KJV)
Jesus explained that His disciples would fast once the bridegroom was taken away.
Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?
Zechariah 7:5 (KJV)
God asked whether Israel’s fasts were truly done unto Him.
And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
Nehemiah 1:4 (KJV)
Nehemiah wept, mourned and fasted after hearing of Jerusalem’s ruin.
David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.
2 Samuel 12:16 (KJV)
David fasted and lay on the ground pleading with God for his sick child.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luke 18:12 (KJV)
In Jesus’ parable, the Pharisee boasts of fasting twice a week, a warning against pride.
In Scripture, fasting is usually joined with prayer and a humble heart. People fasted in times of repentance, like Nineveh in Jonah 3, in times of danger, like Esther and Ezra, and when seeking guidance, like the church in Acts 13. Jesus Himself fasted forty days before His public ministry.
Jesus assumed His followers would fast. In Matthew 6 He says when you fast, not if, and teaches that it should be done quietly before the Father rather than for praise. His parable in Luke 18 shows that fasting can become a source of pride if the heart is wrong.
The prophets stressed that God cares about the purpose of a fast. Isaiah 58 rebukes fasting that goes with oppression and quarreling, and calls instead for justice, feeding the hungry and caring for the needy. Joel 2:13 sums it up: rend your heart and not your garments, and turn to the Lord.
Isaiah 58 addresses fasting directly, redirecting focus from the physical act itself toward the justice and humility it is meant to produce.
King Jehoshaphat of Judah rarely comes up in discussions of this topic, yet his story in 2 Chronicles 20 is one of the clearest examples of a nation fasting in a crisis. When a large army from Moab, Ammon and Mount Seir came against him, Scripture says Jehoshaphat “feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah” (20:3).
His prayer at the temple is remarkably honest. He reminded God of his promises, admitted Judah’s weakness and ended with these words: “neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee” (20:12). Men, women and even little ones stood before the Lord together.
God answered through a Levite named Jahaziel: “the battle is not yours, but God’s” (20:15). The next day Judah went out with singers leading the way, and the enemy armies turned on one another.
Notice the order of events. Jehoshaphat did not first draw up battle plans and then ask God to bless them. He fasted and prayed before he knew what to do, and the direction came afterward. Fasting cleared space for listening.
Read with other Bible verses about fasting, his story shows that fasting is not a way to force God’s hand but a way of fixing our eyes on him.
First and Second Samuel contain several fasts, and together they show how broad the practice was in Israel. In 1 Samuel 7:6, the people gathered at Mizpeh, poured out water before the Lord, fasted and confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” That fast marked national repentance and the start of renewal under Samuel.
Other fasts in these books grow out of grief. After Saul died, the men of Jabesh-gilead buried his bones and fasted seven days (1 Samuel 31:13). David and his men mourned, wept and fasted until evening for Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:12). Fasting here expresses sorrow too deep for ordinary meals.
The most moving example is David’s fast for his sick son in 2 Samuel 12. When the child died, David rose, washed and ate. His servants were confused, and he explained: “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast?”
Among the Bible verses about fasting, this one reveals something important. David fasted in hope, not as a bargain. When God’s answer came, he accepted it and worshipped. Fasting shaped his heart to receive whatever God decided.
David’s psalms add a personal layer. In Psalm 35:13 he recalls that when others were sick, “I humbled my soul with fasting.” That line places David’s own experience in the setting of intercession: he fasted for people who later repaid him with evil.
Because fasting is less familiar in many churches today, a few Bible verses about fasting are easily misunderstood.
Isaiah 58:3 records people asking why God did not notice their fasting. The answer was that their fasts came with oppression and quarreling. Fasting cannot purchase blessing. Luke 18 makes the same point through the Pharisee who fasted twice a week yet went home unjustified.
Scripture shows kings, prophets, widows, whole cities and ordinary believers fasting. Even Ahab, one of Israel’s worst kings, humbled himself with fasting, and God took note of it (1 Kings 21:27-29).
Jesus said that once the bridegroom was taken away, his disciples would fast (Mark 2:20). The New Testament passages in Acts 13 and 14 show that the early church did exactly that.
Colossians 2:23 warns that harsh treatment of the body has a show of wisdom but no real power against the flesh. Some biblical fasts were partial, like Daniel’s three weeks without pleasant bread. The aim is humility and prayer, not proving endurance.
People who are pregnant, diabetic, on certain medications or recovering from an eating disorder should talk with a doctor first. Fasting from a meal, a habit or media can still be a sincere way to seek God.
This plan moves through the main passages on the subject in a week. Each day includes one passage and one question to consider.
The second half of the week looks at fasting in grief, repentance and the life of the church.
Reading these Bible verses about fasting in order shows a steady thread: fasting belongs with prayer, humility and love for others.
Many people find it helpful to use the moments when hunger strikes as reminders to pray. The prayer below draws on several of these passages and can be prayed at each skipped meal.
Morning: Lord, I set this day apart to seek you. As Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone. Let your word feed me more than food would.
Midday: I bring you the need that is on my heart. Like Jehoshaphat, I do not know what to do, but my eyes are upon you. Keep my motives pure and let this fast be seen only by you.
Evening: Show me whom I can serve. Loose the bands of wickedness in me and make me generous toward the hungry, as Isaiah 58 describes. Whatever your answer, teach me to receive it with trust. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Breaking the fast: When you eat again, do it slowly and with thanks. David washed and ate after his fast ended, and the return to food can itself become worship. Consider giving the cost of the skipped meals to someone in need.
Praying through Bible verses about fasting in this way keeps the focus on God rather than on the empty stomach.
These questions suit a Bible study, a church preparing for a season of prayer or personal journaling. Choose the ones that fit your group.
Acts 13:2-3 and Acts 14:23 show the church fasting before sending missionaries and appointing elders. Ezra 8:21 records a fast “to seek of him a right way for us.” These passages suggest fasting is fitting before major decisions.
For families, Ezra’s words stand out among the Bible verses about fasting. He sought God’s way not only for himself but “for our little ones.” Parents facing a move, a job change or a child’s struggle can take that phrase as a model for their own prayer.
Since fasting and prayer go together, these Bible verses about prayer make a natural next study. For practical help planning a fast, see the companion list of Scripture to read while you fast.
Jonah’s sermon in Nineveh was about as short as a sermon can be, and it worked better than anyone expected. Afterward the writer records what a whole city did: “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them” (Jonah 3:5). The king got down from his throne, took off his robe and sat in ashes. A royal decree followed, and even the herds and flocks were kept from food and water (Jonah 3:7).
That last detail can make a modern reader smile, but it shows how total the city’s grief was. Nobody was spared the discipline, and nobody was too important to join. What matters more is the verse that follows the fast: “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way” (Jonah 3:10). The text points to what they did after the hunger, not the hunger itself. Violence stopped, and the changed behavior is what God responded to.
When you read the Bible verses about fasting in the Old Testament, Nineveh is a good check on motive. The fast was a doorway into repentance and nothing more. A person could skip every meal for a month and keep every grudge. The Ninevites did the opposite, short and sharp, and then changed how they lived. If your own fast is aimed at a habit, a quarrel or a pattern you want to leave, it is in good company.
Not every biblical fast meant going without everything. In Daniel 10, the prophet had been mourning for three weeks over a troubling vision. He describes what that looked like: “I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled” (Daniel 10:3). He wasn’t without water or plain food. He gave up the foods that made life enjoyable and the oils and comforts of daily grooming.
This is often called a partial fast, and it opens a door for people who can’t safely go without meals. Someone on medication, someone with a physical job, or someone recovering from illness can still follow the spirit of it by cutting back on pleasures while eating enough to stay well. A week without desserts, coffee shop drinks or evening television can be a real offering if the freed time is spent in prayer.
There is a further detail in Daniel 9:3, where he sets his face “unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.” Fasting there is attached to a specific prayer, the long confession that follows. Daniel wasn’t drifting through a diet. He had a Scripture in front of him (Jeremiah’s seventy years) and a request to make, and the fast gave that request weight.
In Mark 2, some people ask Jesus a fair question. John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples were fasting, so why weren’t his? His answer uses a wedding: “Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast” (Mark 2:19). A wedding week isn’t the time for hunger.
Then he adds something that quietly explains why Christians fast at all: “But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days” (Mark 2:20). Fasting, in the New Testament, is tied to longing. It belongs to people who want Christ nearer than they currently experience him. That fits what we see later in Acts 13:2-3 and 14:23, where the church fasted when it needed direction and when it appointed elders.
This helps with a common confusion. Some believers feel guilty that they don’t fast on a schedule, while others treat it as a requirement for spiritual seriousness. Jesus’ answer is gentler. There are seasons of celebration and seasons of seeking, and a wise person can tell which one they are in. Fast when you are hungry for something only God can give, and eat gladly when the table is a gift.
Luke 18 gives us a short story with two men in the temple. One stands up front and prays about himself: “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess” (Luke 18:11-12). Everything he says might be factually true. He really did fast twice a week, and most people in the crowd didn’t.
The other man stays at the back, will not even lift his eyes, and says only, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Jesus says that one went home justified. The point isn’t that fasting is wrong. It is that a fast can quietly become a trophy, something you hold up against the person next to you.
A simple test helps. After you fast, are you kinder or colder toward people? Does it make you more patient with the slow cashier, or more aware of everyone else’s lack of discipline? A fast that grows contempt has gone sideways, no matter how rigorous it was. The tax collector’s short prayer is a good one to keep in your pocket for the moment you catch yourself keeping score.
When Nehemiah heard that the wall of Jerusalem was still broken down and its gates burned, he didn’t start drafting plans right away. He wrote, “I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:4). Fasting and tears came first. Months later he stood before the king with a request and a plan, and the work of rebuilding began. The grief shaped the work.
Zechariah 7 shows the other side of the coin. A delegation asked whether they should keep observing a fast that had been held for decades to mourn the destruction of the temple. God’s answer through the prophet was pointed: “When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?” (Zechariah 7:5). A routine had outlived its meaning, and the people were going through the motions.
Both passages invite an honest look at your own habits. If you fast regularly, ask who it is really for. If you have never fasted, Nehemiah is a gentle model: let something that truly grieves you slow you down for a day, and bring it to God before you rush to fix it.
Keep exploring with these related pages: Bible Verses For Peace of Mind, Bible Verses About Spiritual Protection, Bible Verses For Broken Relationships, Bible Verses For Kindness, Bible Verses For Sadness, Bible Verses For Death, Bible Verses For Physical Healing, Bible Verses For Money, Bible Verses For God Giving Strength, Bible Verses About Children's Protection and Bible Verses About Parenting.
If you want to dig further, Bible Gateway, Bible Hub and Bible Study Tools are good places to start.
In Scripture, fasting is usually joined with prayer and a humble heart. People fasted in times of repentance, like Nineveh in Jonah 3, in times of danger, like Esther and Ezra, and when seeking guidance, like the church in Acts 13.
This page brings together 16 King James Version references about fasting, drawn from 11 different books of the Bible.
Beyond the references highlighted on this page, fasting appears throughout Scripture in books such as Joel, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, Psalm, 1 Kings; this collection focuses on some of the clearest examples.
These fasting verses are drawn from books including Joel, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, Psalm, 1 Kings, among others.
Yes. The verses about fasting gathered here include passages from both the Old Testament and the New Testament, such as Joel 2:13 and Mark 2:20.
