12 Scriptures to Meditate on This Lent
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Lent is a sacred season in the Christian calendar—a time of repentance, prayer, fasting, humility, and preparation for Easter. For 40 days, believers intentionally slow down and reflect on Christ’s sacrifice and the hope of His resurrection. One of the most meaningful ways to observe Lent is through daily Scripture meditation, allowing God’s Word to renew your heart and deepen your relationship with Jesus.
If you are looking for Bible verses to read during Lent, these twelve passages will guide you through themes of confession, surrender, service, suffering, and resurrection hope.
12 Scriptures for Lenten Meditation
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
-Psalm 51:10-12 NIV
12 “Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
-Joel 2:12–13 NIV
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
-Isaiah 53:4–6 NIV
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
2 Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
-Psalm 130:1–4 NIV
6 With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
-Micah 6:6-8 NIV
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
-Matthew 4:1-4 NIV
16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
-Matthew 6:16-18 NIV
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
-Luke 18:13-14 NIV
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
-John 13:34–35 NIV
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
-Romans 5:6-8 NIV
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
-Philippians 2:5–8 NIV
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
-John 11:25-26 NIV
How to Meditate on Scripture During Lent
As you meditate on these Lenten Bible verses, read each passage slowly and prayerfully. Pause over words or phrases that stand out. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal areas where God is inviting you to confess, surrender, trust, serve, or hope more deeply. Consider journaling your reflections in your Seek First Journal, praying the verses aloud, or returning to the same passage throughout the week.
This intentional time in God’s Word prepares your heart not only for Good Friday, but for the joy of Easter Sunday.
Join the Seek First Lent Bible Reading Plan
If you would like a structured Bible reading plan and daily devotional for Lent, we invite you to join our Seek First Lent Bible Reading Plan and Devotional.
You can download the complete Bible reading plan and devotional as a FREE PDF here.
Or join the Seek First Lent Bible Reading Plan on YouVersion’s Bible App here.
Make this Lent a season of seeking God first—drawing near through Scripture, prayer, and reflection as you prepare your heart to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.