2 Chronicles 20:3
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
3 Jehoshaphat was afraid; he set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.(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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2 Chronicles 19:3
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3 Nevertheless, some good is found in you, for you destroyed the sacred poles[a] out of the land and have set your heart to seek God.”(A)
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- 19.3 Or Asherahs
Joel 2:12-18
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12 Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;(A)
13 rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,
and relenting from punishment.(B)
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?(C)
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;(D)
16 gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
assemble the aged;
gather the children,
even infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her canopy.(E)
17 Between the vestibule and the altar,
let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and do not make your heritage a mockery,
a byword among the nations.
Why should it be said among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’ ”(F)
God’s Response and Promise
18 Then the Lord became jealous for his land
and had pity on his people.(G)
Joel 1:14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 Consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.(A)
Jeremiah 36:9
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9 In the fifth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the Lord.(A)
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1 Samuel 7:6
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6 So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted that day and said, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.(A)
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Matthew 10:28
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28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[a]
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- 10.28 Gk Gehenna
Jonah 3:5-9
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5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.(A)
6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.(B) 7 Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water.(C) 8 Humans and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands.(D) 9 Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.”(E)
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Isaiah 37:3-6
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3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth.(A) 4 It may be that the Lord your God heard the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.”(B)
[[5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master: Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me.(C)
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Psalm 56:3-4
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3 when I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.(A)
4 In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I am not afraid;
what can flesh do to me?(B)
Esther 4:16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
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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Ezra 8:21-23
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Fasting and Prayer for Protection
21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the River Ahava, that we might humble ourselves[a] before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions.(A) 22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and cavalry to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king that the hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all who forsake him.(B) 23 So we fasted and petitioned our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.(C)
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- 8.21 Or fast
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.