Bible Dictionary
Fast
Fasting is abstaining from food for religious purposes, commonly as an expression of repentance, prayer, grief, or dependence upon God. Scripture records required, public, local, and private fasts, while warning against hypocritical fasting.
Biblical Usage
The sole fast required by the Mosaic law was connected with the Day of Atonement. Scripture also records national and local fasts, Esther’s fast, private fasts, and the forty-day fasts of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. The early Christians observed ordinary fasts, but Jesus appointed no particular fast.
Scripture References
Leviticus 23:26-32
Acts 27:9
Zechariah 7:1-7
Zechariah 8:19
Exodus 32:19
Jeremiah 52:6
Jeremiah 52:7
Numbers 14:27
Jeremiah 52:12
Jeremiah 52:13
2 Kings 25
Jeremiah 41:1
Jeremiah 41:2
Jeremiah 52:4
Ezekiel 33:21
2 Kings 25:1
1 Samuel 7:6
1 Samuel 2
2 Chronicles 20:3
2 Chronicles 3
Jeremiah 36:6-10
Jeremiah 4
Nehemiah 9:1
Judges 20:26
Judges 2
2 Samuel 1:12
2 Samuel 3
1 Samuel 31:13
1 Samuel 4
1 Kings 21:9-12
1 Kings 5
Ezra 8:21-23
Jonah 3:5-9
1 Samuel 1:7
2 Samuel 3:35
2 Samuel 12:16
1 Kings 21:27
Ezra 10:6
Nehemiah 1:4
Daniel 10:2
Daniel 10:3
Exodus 24:18
Exodus 34:28
1 Kings 19:8
Matthew 4:2
Isaiah 58:4
Jeremiah 14:12
Zechariah 7:5
Matthew 6:16
Acts 13:3
Acts 14:23
2 Corinthians 6:5