Topic
Fasts
18 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1884 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Numbers 30:13Smith
Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.
- 1 Samuel 7:6Smith
And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.
- 1 Kings 21:27Smith
And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
- 2 Chronicles 20:3Smith
And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
- Nehemiah 9:1Smith
Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
- Esther 4:16Smith
Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I…
- Psalms 35:13Smith
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
- Jeremiah 36:6–10Smith
Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD’s house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.…
- Daniel 10:3Smith
I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
- Joel 2:1–15Smith
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the…
- Zechariah 7:1–7Smith
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu; When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before…
- Zechariah 8:19Smith
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.
Show 6 more
- Matthew 9:14 Smith
- Mark 2:18 Smith
- Luke 5:33 Smith
- Luke 18:12 Smith
- Acts 10:30 Smith
- Acts 27:9 Smith
In the reference works
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 19 references
- One fast only was appointed by the Mosaic law, that on the day of atonement. There is no mention of any other periodical fast in the Old Testament except in (Zechariah 7:1-7; 8:19) From these passages it appears that the Jews, during their captivity, observed four annual fasts, --in the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months.
- Public fasts were occasionally proclaimed to express national humiliation and to supplicate divine favor. In the case of public danger the proclamation appears to have been accompanied with the blowing of trumpets. (Joel 2:1-15) (See (1 Samuel 7:6; 2 Chronicles 20:3; Jeremiah 36:6-10)) Three days after the feast of tabernacles, when the second temple was completed, "the children of Israel assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes and earth upon them," to hear the law read and to confess their sins. (Nehemiah 9:1)
- Private occasional fasts are recognized in one passage of the law -- (Numbers 30:13) The instances given of individuals fasting under the influence of grief, vexation or anxiety are numerous.
- In the New Testament the only reference to the Jewish fasts are the mention of "the fast" in (Acts 27:9) (generally understood to denote the day of atonement) an the allusions to the weekly fasts. (Matthew 9:14; Mark 2:18; Luke 5:33; 18:12; Acts 10:30) These fasts originated some time after the captivity.
- The Jewish fasts were observed with various degrees of strictness. Sometimes there was entire abstinence from food. (Esther 4:16) etc. On other occasions there appears to have been only a restriction to a very plain diet. (Daniel 10:3) Those who fasted frequently dressed in sackcloth or rent their clothes, put ashes on their head and went barefoot. (1 Kings 21:27; Nehemiah 9:1; Psalms 35:13)
- The sacrifice of the personal will, which gives to fasting all its value, is expressed in the old term used in the law, afflicting the soul .
Texts: Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.