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.

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)

⁴ When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.^(A)

¹² I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’^(A)

³ Then I turned to the Lord God to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.^(A)

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?”