Isaiah 58:3-6
3 a‘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, ▼
▼Or pursue your own business
cand oppress all your workers.
4Behold, 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 dIs such the fast that I choose,
ea 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:
fto loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps gof the yoke,
to let the oppressed ▼
▼Or bruised
go free,and to break every yoke?
Zechariah 7:6
6 iAnd when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?Matthew 9:14-17
A Question About Fasting
14Then jthe disciples of John came to him, saying, k“Why do we and lthe Pharisees fast, ▼▼Some manuscripts add much, or often
but your disciples do not fast?” 15And Jesus said to them, n“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? oThe days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and pthen they will fast. 16No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17Neither is new wine put into old qwineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” Mark 2:18-22
A Question About Fasting
18Now rJohn’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, s“Why do John’s disciples and tthe disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19And Jesus said to them, u“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 vThe days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and wthen they will fast in that day. 21No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22And no one puts new wine into old xwineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” ▼▼Some manuscripts omit But new wine is for fresh wineskins
Luke 18:12
12 zI fast twice a week; aaI give tithes of all that I get.’
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