What does the Bible say about fasting?
Retrieved texts include Isaiah 58:3, Isaiah 58:5, Esther 4:16, Matthew 17:21.
The texts do not directly address broader modern formulations; NO DIRECT REFERENCE IN SOURCE TEXTS and INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE apply beyond retrieved passages.
THEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
1. QUESTION
What does the Bible teach about the practice of fasting—its nature, purpose, and proper observance?
2. PRIMARY TEXTUAL EVIDENCE
On the Nature of Fasting (Abstention from Food/Drink)
"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" — Esther 4:16 (KJV)
"And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred." — Matthew 4:2 (KJV)
"My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness." — Psalms 109:24 (KJV)
On the Purpose of Fasting
Seeking God / Spiritual Direction:
"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." — Ezra 8:21 (KJV)
"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)
Spiritual Warfare:
"Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." — Matthew 17:21 (KJV)
"This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting." — Mark 9:29 (KJV)
Devotion to Prayer:
"Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer." — 1 Corinthians 7:5 (KJV)
On the Proper Manner of Fasting
Against Hypocrisy:
"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." — Matthew 6:16 (KJV)
Against Mere External Ritual:
"Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?" — Isaiah 58:5 (KJV)
"Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours." — Isaiah 58:3 (KJV)
On Fasting as Apostolic Practice
"In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings." — 2 Corinthians 6:5 (KJV)
"In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." — 2 Corinthians 11:27 (KJV)
3. LINGUISTIC/HISTORICAL DATA
From the provided texts:
- The Hebrew concept appears linked to the phrase "afflict ourselves/soul" (Ezra 8:21; Isaiah 58:3, 5), suggesting fasting involved deliberate self-denial.
- Esther 4:16 explicitly defines fasting as abstaining from food and drink.
- Fasting is consistently paired with prayer in the texts (Daniel 9:3; Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29; 1 Corinthians 7:5).
- Luke 5:33 indicates fasting was a recognized practice among the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees during Jesus' ministry.
4. SCHOLARLY POSITIONS
The texts suggest two interpretive tensions that may be debated:
- Textual criticism note: Matthew 17:21 and the phrase "and fasting" in Mark 9:29 are disputed in some manuscript traditions (though this observation comes from text
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE: retrieved texts do not resolve this question explicitly.