ISAIAH 58 | God speaks through the prophet Isaiah, addressing the people of Israel.
1 Cry aloud, do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their rebellion, and to the house of Jacob their sin. 2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. 3 Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it? Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist; fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness; 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. 11 And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.
MATTHEW 17:21 | Jesus before performing each miracle
21 But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.
EXODUS 34:28 | Moses before receiving the tablets of the Law
28 And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread, nor drink water; and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
Daniel 1:8~16 | Daniel
8 And Daniel proposed in his heart not to defile himself with the portion of the king's food, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs that he might not be compelled to defile himself. 9 Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. 10 And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, "I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink; for why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king." 11 So Daniel said to Melzar, whom the chief of the eunuchs had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 "Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king's delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants." 14 So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. 15 And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies. 16 Thus Melzar took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables..