Week 221 · about 45 minutes
Deuteronomy 26
Deuteronomy 26 · Memory verse Deuteronomy 26:16
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Deuteronomy 26), the matching word search and answer key (Deuteronomy 26 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a wooden spoon
Hold a wooden spoon. Read Deuteronomy 26 in about four minutes, stopping at Deuteronomy 26:16: “Today Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Deuteronomy 26?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Deuteronomy 26 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “It shall be, when you have come in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in it,” 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, “Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, Yahweh, have given me.” You shall set it down before Yahweh your God, and worship before Yahweh your God.” Deuteronomy 26 opens with these words: “It shall be, when you have come in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in it,” The line to keep is Deuteronomy 26:16: “Today Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.” Carry the word “today” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Deuteronomy 26:16: “Today Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Deuteronomy 26? Then try this: Read “Today Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them…” 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 26. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Deuteronomy 26:16. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Deuteronomy 26 and write Deuteronomy 26:16 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Deuteronomy 26:16
“Today Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Deuteronomy 26. Help us remember Deuteronomy 26:16 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.