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Malachi 3:14
You have said:“ It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?
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Psalms 69:10
I mourned and fasted, but it brought me insults.
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Luke 18:9-12
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else:“ Two men went up to the temple complex to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this:‘ God, I thank You that I’m not like other people— greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’
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Proverbs 28:9
Anyone who turns his ear away from hearing the law— even his prayer is detestable.
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Zechariah 7:5-7
“ Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these 70 years, did you really fast for Me?When you eat and drink, don’t you eat and drink simply for yourselves?Aren’t these the words that the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and secure, along with its surrounding cities, and when the southern region and the Judean foothills were inhabited?”
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Jonah 3:6-8
When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes.Then he issued a decree in Nineveh: By order of the king and his nobles: No man or beast, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water.Furthermore, both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from the violence he is doing.
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Nehemiah 5:7
After seriously considering the matter, I accused the nobles and officials, saying to them,“ Each of you is charging his countrymen interest.” So I called a large assembly against them
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Luke 15:29
But he replied to his father,‘ Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
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Daniel 10:2-3
In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks.I didn’t eat any rich food, no meat or wine entered my mouth, and I didn’t put any oil on my body until the three weeks were over.
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Isaiah 22:13
But look: joy and gladness, butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat, and drinking of wine—“ Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
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Jeremiah 34:9-17
so each man would free his male and female Hebrew slaves and no one would enslave his Judean brother.All the officials and people who entered into covenant to free their male and female slaves— in order not to enslave them any longer— obeyed and freed them.Afterward, however, they changed their minds and took back their male and female slaves they had freed and forced them to become slaves again.Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord:“ This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, saying:At the end of seven years, each of you must free his Hebrew brother who sold himself to you. He may serve you six years, but then you must send him out free from you. But your ancestors did not obey Me or pay any attention.Today you repented and did what pleased Me, each of you proclaiming freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before Me at the temple called by My name.But you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each has taken back his male and female slaves who had been freed to go wherever they wanted, and you have again subjugated them to be your slaves.“ Therefore, this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed Me by proclaiming freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. I hereby proclaim freedom for you”— this is the Lord’s declaration—“ to the sword, to plague, and to famine! I will make you a horror to all the earth’s kingdoms.
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Isaiah 47:6
I was angry with My people; I profaned My possession, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly.
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Matthew 18:28-35
“ But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said,‘ Pay what you owe!’“ At this, his fellow slave fell down and began begging him,‘ Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’But he wasn’t willing. On the contrary, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed.When the other slaves saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened.“ Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him,‘ You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’And his master got angry and handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed.So My heavenly Father will also do to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from his heart.”
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Numbers 23:4
God met with him and Balaam said to Him,“ I have arranged seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.”
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Micah 3:9-11
Listen to this, leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert everything that is right,who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with injustice.Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe, her priests teach for payment, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,“ Isn’t the Lord among us? No disaster will overtake us.”
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Leviticus 16:31
It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must practice self-denial; it is a permanent statute.
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Exodus 2:23-24
After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their difficult labor, and they cried out; and their cry for help ascended to God because of the difficult labor.So God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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Leviticus 23:27
“ The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You are to hold a sacred assembly and practice self-denial; you are to present a fire offering to the Lord.
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Matthew 20:11-12
When they received it, they began to complain to the landowner:‘ These last men put in one hour, and you made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day and the burning heat!’
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Leviticus 16:29
“ This is to be a permanent statute for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month you are to practice self-denial and do no work, both the native and the foreigner who resides among you.