nesteuo describes fasting as a practice set beside prayer, devotion, or a time when eating and drinking are withheld.

The attested use consistently denotes fasting: it is practiced often by groups, undertaken privately without display, associated with prayer and sending, and contrasted with eating and drinking or deferred until the bridegroom is taken away.

1. Fasting as an observed religious practice · dominant

   The verb occurs for groups who fast often and make petitions in Luke 5:33, for fasting contrasted with eating and drinking in Mark 2:18, and for a personal stated practice in Luke 18:12. In Matthew 6:16 the supplied present forms occur in instruction not to make fasting conspicuous, while Acts 13:2 places a present active participle alongside serving the Lord; the APB renders that clause "While they were serving the Lord and fasting."

   Luke 5:33Mark 2:18Luke 18:12Matthew 6:16Acts 13:2Matthew 4:2

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the occurrences, the APB regularly uses "fast," "fasting," or "fasted," including future statements that people "will fast." These renderings confirm the verse-level presentation rather than supplying a separate lexical distinction.