They observed a time of fasting and put Naboth in front of the people.

This is what she wrote: ¹  “Observe a time of fasting and seat Naboth in front of the people.

When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, ¹  crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust.

Look, your fasting is accompanied by ¹  arguments, brawls, and fistfights. ²  Do not fast as you do today, trying to make your voice heard in heaven.

So I turned my attention ¹  to the Lord God ²  to implore him by prayer and requests, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ³ 

“Yet even now,” the Lord says, “return to me with all your heart – with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, ¹  not just your garments!”

She had lived as a widow since then for eighty-four years. ¹  She never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. ² 

While they were serving ¹  the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart ²  for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Throughout each and every province where the king’s edict and law were announced ¹  there was considerable ²  mourning among the Jews, along with fasting, weeping, and sorrow. ³  Sackcloth and ashes were characteristic ⁴  of many.

to establish these days of Purim in their proper times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established, and just as they had established both for themselves and their descendants, matters pertaining to fasting and lamentation.

by asking both the priests of the temple ¹  of the Lord who rules over all and the prophets, “Should we weep in the fifth month, ²  fasting as we have done over the years?”

“When ¹  you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive ²  so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, ³  they have their reward.

so that it will not be obvious to others when you are fasting, but only to your Father who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

Now ¹  John’s ²  disciples and the Pharisees ³  were fasting. ⁴  So ⁵  they came to Jesus ⁶  and said, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?”

When they had appointed elders ¹  for them in the various churches, ²  with prayer and fasting ³  they entrusted them to the protection ⁴  of the Lord in whom they had believed.

Is this really the kind of fasting I want? ¹  Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, ²  bowing their heads like a reed and stretching out ³  on sackcloth and ashes? Is this really what you call a fast, a day that is pleasing to the Lord?