Matthew 6:16
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Concerning Fasting
16 “And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
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Isaiah 58:3-5
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3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day
and oppress all your workers.(A)
4 You fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.(B)
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?(C)
Matthew 9:14-15
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The Question about Fasting
14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often,[a] but your disciples do not fast?”(A) 15 And Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.(B)
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- 9.14 Other ancient authorities lack often
Nehemiah 1:4
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4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.(A)
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Luke 18:12
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12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’(A)
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Daniel 9:3
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3 Then I turned to the Lord God to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.(A)
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Mark 2:18
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The Question about Fasting
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people[a] came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
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- 2.18 Gk they
Psalm 69:10
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Footnotes
- 69.10 Gk Syr: Heb I wept, with fasting my soul, or I made my soul mourn with fasting
Psalm 35:13
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13 But as for me, when they were sick,
I wore sackcloth;
I afflicted myself with fasting.
I prayed with head bowed[a] on my bosom,(A)
Footnotes
- 35.13 Or My prayer turned back
Acts 14:23
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23 And after they had appointed elders for them in each church, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe.(A)
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Matthew 6:5
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Concerning Prayer
5 “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.(A)
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Matthew 6:2
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2 “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.(A)
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Zechariah 7:3-5
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3 and to ask the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, “Should I mourn and practice abstinence in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”(A) 4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me: 5 “Say to all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth month and in the seventh for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?(B)
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Esther 4:16
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16 “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”(A)
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2 Samuel 12:16
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16 David therefore pleaded with God for the child; David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.(A)
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Acts 13:2-3
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2 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.”(A) 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.(B)
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Psalm 109:24
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24 My knees are weak through fasting;
my body has become gaunt.(A)
1 Kings 21:27
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27 When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth over his bare flesh; he fasted, lay in the sackcloth, and went about dejectedly.(A)
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2 Corinthians 11:27
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27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food,[a] cold and naked.(A)
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- 11.27 Gk with frequent fasting
1 Corinthians 7:5
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5 Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer,[a] and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.(A)
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- 7.5 Other ancient authorities read fasting and prayer
Luke 2:37
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37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.(A)
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Malachi 3:14
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14 You have said, “It is vain to serve God. What do we profit by keeping his command or by going about as mourners before the Lord of hosts?(A)
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2 Samuel 12:21
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21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while it was alive, but when the child died, you rose and ate food.”
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2 Corinthians 6:5
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5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;(A)
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Acts 10:30
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30 Cornelius replied, “Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man in dazzling clothes stood before me.
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