February 22, 2026

First Sunday in Lent

First Reading: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
KJV
¹Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
²And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
³And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
⁴These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
⁵And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
⁶But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
⁷And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
⁸And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
⁹And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
¹⁰And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
¹¹The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
¹²And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
¹³And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
¹⁴And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
¹⁵And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
¹⁶And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
¹⁷But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
¹⁸And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
¹⁹And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
²⁰And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
²¹And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
²²And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
²³And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
²⁴Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
²⁵And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Psalm: Psalm 32
KJV
¹Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
²Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
³When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
⁴For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
⁵I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
⁶For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
⁷Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
⁸I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
⁹Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
¹⁰Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
¹¹Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
Second Reading: Romans 5:12-19
KJV
¹Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
²By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
³And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
⁴And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
⁵And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
⁶For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
⁷For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
⁸But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
⁹Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
¹⁰For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
¹¹And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
¹²Wherefore*, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
¹³(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
¹⁵But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
¹⁶And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
¹⁷For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
¹⁸Therefore* as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
¹⁹For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so* by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
²⁰Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
²¹That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11
KJV
¹Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
²And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
³And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
⁴But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
⁵Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
⁶And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written*, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
⁷Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
⁸Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
⁹And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
¹⁰Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
¹¹Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
¹²Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
¹³And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
¹⁴That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
¹⁵The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
¹⁶The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up*.
¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
¹⁸And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
¹⁹And he saith unto them, Follow* me, and I will make you fishers of men.
²⁰And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
²¹And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
²²And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
²³And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
²⁴And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
²⁵And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.