Week 211 · about 45 minutes
Deuteronomy 16
Deuteronomy 16 · Memory verse Deuteronomy 16:21
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Deuteronomy 16), the matching word search and answer key (Deuteronomy 16 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a wooden spoon
Hold a wooden spoon. Read Deuteronomy 16 in about four minutes, stopping at Deuteronomy 16:21: “You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside Yahweh your God’s altar, which you shall make for yourselves.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Deuteronomy 16?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Deuteronomy 16 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night.” 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, “You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. You shall observe and do these statutes.” Deuteronomy 16 opens with these words: “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by…” The line to keep is Deuteronomy 16:21: “You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside Yahweh your God’s altar, which you shall make for yourselves.” Carry the word “plant” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Deuteronomy 16:21: “You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside Yahweh your God’s altar, which you shall make for yourselves.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Deuteronomy 16? Then try this: Read “You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside Yahweh your God’s altar, which you…” 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 16. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Deuteronomy 16:21. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Deuteronomy 16 and write Deuteronomy 16:21 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Deuteronomy 16:21
“You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside Yahweh your God’s altar, which you shall make for yourselves.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Deuteronomy 16. Help us remember Deuteronomy 16:21 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.