Week 209 · about 45 minutes
Deuteronomy 14
Deuteronomy 14 · Memory verse Deuteronomy 14:1
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Deuteronomy 14), the matching word search and answer key (Deuteronomy 14 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a key
Hold a key. Read Deuteronomy 14 in about four minutes, stopping at Deuteronomy 14:1: “You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Deuteronomy 14?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Deuteronomy 14 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.” That is not a motto invented for a poster. It is the first sentence a family hears when this page is opened at night.
Keep going a little further. The chapter also says, “the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, the hawk after its kind,” Deuteronomy 14 opens with these words: “You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.” The line to keep is Deuteronomy 14:1: “You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.” Carry the word “children” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Deuteronomy 14:1: “You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Deuteronomy 14? Then try this: Read “You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your…” once more. What does it show you about God? You do not have to finish every verse. You can close the book after the memory verse and still have read the Bible together.
Group game
Walk the room as if you are moving through Deuteronomy 14. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Deuteronomy 14:1. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Deuteronomy 14 and write Deuteronomy 14:1 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Deuteronomy 14:1
“You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Deuteronomy 14. Help us remember Deuteronomy 14:1 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.