Fasting

¹⁶ “When you fast,^(A) do not look somber^(B) as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,

¹⁵ Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast^(A) for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”^(B)

¹⁷ So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.

³ So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting,^(A) and in sackcloth and ashes.^(B)

⁸ But Daniel resolved not to defile^(A) himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. ⁹ Now God had caused the official to show favor^(B) and compassion^(C) to Daniel, ¹⁰ but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your^[a] food and drink.^(D) Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”

¹¹ Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, ¹² “Please test^(E) your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.”^{(F) 14} So he agreed to this and tested^(G) them for ten days.

¹⁵ At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.^{(H) 16} So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.^(I)

¹⁷ To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding^(J) of all kinds of literature and learning.^(K) And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.^(L)