38 Meaningful Ash Wednesday Bible Verses to Reflect On

Ready to read some Ash Wednesday quotes and Bible verses in preparation for the religious event? Like Easter Sunday, the exact day when Ash Wednesday is honored changes every year. It always falls 40 days before Easter. This year, Ash Wednesday falls on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, which is earlier than usual. Easter this year falls on Sunday, April 9, 2023. (Last year, Ash Wednesday was on March 2, 2022, while Easter was Sunday, April 17.) Regardless of what date Ash Wednesday falls on, practicing Christians mark this day by attending church services and getting a mark on their foreheads with ash in the shape of a cross. The ash is made of burnt palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday.

"Ash Wednesday is a solemn reminder of human mortality and the need for reconciliation with God and marks the beginning of the penitential Lenten season," according to Britannica. Beyond observing by going to church and getting the ashes on your forehead, other ways to honor the day include fasting, not eating meat, and deciding what you want to abstain from or give up for Lent.

Ahead, scripture to reflect on this Ash Wednesday:

Best Ash Wednesday Quotes from the Bible

  1. Genesis 2:7
    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.

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  2. John 14:6
    Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

  3. 1 John 2:2
    He is God’s way of dealing with our sins, not only ours but the sins of the whole world.

  4. Genesis 3:19
    by the sweat of your face you will eat bread—
    until you return to the fertile land,
    since from it you were taken;
    you are soil,
    to the soil you will return.

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  5. 2 Peter 3:9
    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.

  6. 1 John 1:9
    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.

  7. Isaiah 58:5
    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?

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

  9. John 3:16
    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.

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

    ash wednesday bible verses psalms 103 13 14
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  11. Proverbs 28:13
    Those who hide their sins won’t succeed,
    but those who confess and give them up will receive mercy.

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

  13. Ezekiel 9:4
    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.

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

  15. Luke 9:51–53
    As the time approached when Jesus was to be taken up into heaven, he determined to go to Jerusalem.He sent messengers on ahead of him. Along the way, they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival, but the Samaritan villagers refused to welcome him because he was determined to go to Jerusalem.

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

  17. 1 John 3:2-3
    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.

  18. Romans 12:1-2
    So, brothers and sisters, because of God’s mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. This is your appropriate priestly service. Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature.

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

  20. Numbers 19:17
    For the unclean person, they will take some of the ashes of the purification offering and place fresh water with it in a jar.

  21. Esther 4:3
    At the same time, in every province and place where the king’s order and his new law arrived, a very great sadness came over the Jews. They gave up eating and spent whole days weeping and crying out loudly in pain. Many Jews lay on the ground in mourning clothes and ashes.

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

  23. Luke 10:13
    How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin. How terrible it will be for you, Bethsaida. If the miracles done among you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed their hearts and lives long ago. They would have sat around in funeral clothes and ashes.

  24. Hebrews 12:1–3
    So then, with endurance, let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up, and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne.

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

  26. Matthew 6:16-18
    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.

  27. 1 Corinthians 7:5
    Don’t refuse to meet each other’s needs unless you both agree for a short period of time to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come back together again so that Satan might not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

  28. John 20:19
    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."

  29. Joel 2:12–13
    Yet even now, says the Lord,
    return to me with all your hearts,
    with fasting, with weeping, and with sorrow;
    tear your hearts
    and not your clothing.
    Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is merciful and compassionate,
    very patient, full of faithful love,
    and ready to forgive.

  30. John 7:37
    On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted,
    "All who are thirsty should come to me!"

  31. 2 Corinthians 5:18–21
    All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them. He has trusted us with this message of reconciliation.
    So we are ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ’s representatives, “Be reconciled to God!” God caused the one who didn’t know sin to be sin for our sake so that through him we could become the righteousness of God.

  32. Mark 1:14–15
    After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”

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

  34. Daniel 10:12
    Then the man said to me, "Don’t be afraid, Daniel, because from the day you first set your mind to understand things and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I’ve come because of your words!"

  35. Romans 3:20–26
    It follows that no human being will be treated as righteous in his presence by doing what the Law says, because the knowledge of sin comes through the Law.
    But now God’s righteousness has been revealed apart from the Law, which is confirmed by the Law and the Prophets. God’s righteousness comes through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who have faith in him. There’s no distinction. All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, but all are treated as righteous freely by his grace because of a ransom that was paid by Christ Jesus.Through his faithfulness, God displayed Jesus as the place of sacrifice where mercy is found by means of his blood. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness in passing over sins that happened before, during the time of God’s patient tolerance. He also did this to demonstrate that he is righteous in the present time, and to treat the one who has faith in Jesus as righteous.

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

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

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

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