Ash Wednesday 2023: 25 Bible verses to start the first day of Lent

Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayers and fasting that marks the beginning of Lent.

Here are some bible verses to make your celebrations unique and special, courtesy of womans day.com.

1. "All go to the same place: all are from the dust; all return to the dust." - Ecclesiastes 3:20

2. "My ears had heard about you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore, I relent and find comfort on dust and ashes." - Job 42:5-6

3. "The Lord God formed the human from the topsoil of the fertile land and blew life's breath into his nostrils. The human came to life." - Genesis 2:7

4. "Trusting with the heart leads to righteousness, and confessing with the mouth leads to salvation." - Romans 10:10

5. "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." - Genesis 3:19

6. "Change your hearts and lives! Turn back to God so that your sins may be wiped away." - Acts 3:19

7. "Wash me completely clean of my guilt; purify me from my sin!" - Psalm 51:2

8. "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." - Acts 2:21

9. "He is God's way of dealing with our sins, not only ours but the sins of the whole world." - 1 John 2:2

10. "And when you fast, don't put on a sad face like the hypocrites. They distort their faces so people will know they are fasting. I assure you that they have their reward. When you fast, brush your hair and wash your face. Then you won't look like you are fasting to people, but only to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees in secret will reward you." - Matthew 6:16-18

11. "The Lord isn't slow to keep his promise, as some think of slowness, but he is patient toward you, not wanting anyone to perish but all to change their hearts and lives." - 2 Peter 3:9

12. "But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from everything we've done wrong." - 1 John 1:9

13. "He was transformed in front of them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light." - Matthew 17:2

14. "After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving." - Matthew 4:2

15. From that time Jesus began to announce, "Change your hearts and lives! Here comes the kingdom of heaven!" - Matthew 4:17

16. "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won't perish but will have eternal life." - John 3:16

17. "Like a parent feels compassion for their children—that's how the Lord feels compassion for those who honour him. Because God knows how we're made, God remembers we're just dust." - Psalms 103:13-14

18. "Those who hide their sins won't succeed, but those who confess and give them up will receive mercy." - Proverbs 28:13

19. "Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and mark the foreheads of those who sigh and groan because of all the detestable practices that have been conducted in it." - Ezekiel 9:4

20. "Is this the kind of fast I choose, a day of self-affliction, of bending one's head like a reed and of lying down in mourning clothing and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?" - Isaiah 58:5

22. It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, "Peace be with you." - John 20:19

23. "Dear friends, now we are God's children, and it hasn't yet appeared what we will be. We know that when he appears we will be like him because we'll see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves even as he is pure." - 1 John 3:2-3

24. "I then turned my face to my Lord God, asking for an answer with prayer and pleading, and with fasting, mourning clothes, and ashes." - Daniel 9:3

25. "A time for searching and a time for losing, a time for keeping and a time for throwing away." - Ecclesiastes 3:6