Week 223 · about 45 minutes
Deuteronomy 28
Deuteronomy 28 · Memory verse Deuteronomy 28:47
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Deuteronomy 28), the matching word search and answer key (Deuteronomy 28 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a small lamp
Hold a small lamp. Read Deuteronomy 28 in about four minutes, stopping at Deuteronomy 28:47: “Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Deuteronomy 28?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Deuteronomy 28 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you today, that Yahweh your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.” 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, “Yahweh will strike you in the knees and in the legs with a sore boil, of which you can not be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.” Deuteronomy 28 opens with these words: “It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you…” The line to keep is Deuteronomy 28:47: “Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;” Carry the word “didn” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Deuteronomy 28:47: “Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Deuteronomy 28? Then try this: Read “Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the…” 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 28. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Deuteronomy 28:47. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Deuteronomy 28 and write Deuteronomy 28:47 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Deuteronomy 28:47
“Because you didn’t serve Yahweh your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things;”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Deuteronomy 28. Help us remember Deuteronomy 28:47 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.