Week 218 · about 45 minutes
Deuteronomy 23
Deuteronomy 23 · Memory verse Deuteronomy 23:5
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Deuteronomy 23), the matching word search and answer key (Deuteronomy 23 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a seed
Hold a seed. Read Deuteronomy 23 in about four minutes, stopping at Deuteronomy 23:5: “Nevertheless Yahweh your God wouldn’t listen to Balaam; but Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because Yahweh your God loved you.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Deuteronomy 23?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Deuteronomy 23 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “He who is emasculated by crushing or cutting shall not enter into Yahweh’s assembly.” 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 have a trowel among your weapons. It shall be, when you relieve yourself, you shall dig with it, and shall turn back and cover your excrement;” Deuteronomy 23 opens with these words: “He who is emasculated by crushing or cutting shall not enter into Yahweh’s assembly.” The line to keep is Deuteronomy 23:5: “Nevertheless Yahweh your God wouldn’t listen to Balaam; but Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because Yahweh your God loved you.” Carry the word “neverthele” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Deuteronomy 23:5: “Nevertheless Yahweh your God wouldn’t listen to Balaam; but Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because Yahweh your God loved you.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Deuteronomy 23? Then try this: Read “Nevertheless Yahweh your God wouldn’t listen to Balaam; but Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing…” 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 23. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Deuteronomy 23:5. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Deuteronomy 23 and write Deuteronomy 23:5 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Deuteronomy 23:5
“Nevertheless Yahweh your God wouldn’t listen to Balaam; but Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because Yahweh your God loved you.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Deuteronomy 23. Help us remember Deuteronomy 23:5 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.