Week 236 · about 45 minutes
Joshua 8
Joshua 8 · Memory verse Joshua 8:7
Get the free weekly Sunday school and bedtime printable pack
For a parent or teacher. Children do not make accounts here. The pack is a week of printables, not a child profile.
Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Joshua 8), the matching word search and answer key (Joshua 8 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a cup of water
Hold a cup of water. Read Joshua 8 in about four minutes, stopping at Joshua 8:7: “and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Joshua 8?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Joshua 8 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed. Take all the warriors with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land.” 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 said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.” Joshua 8 opens with these words: “Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed. Take all the warriors with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have…” The line to keep is Joshua 8:7: “and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand.” Carry the word “rise” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Joshua 8:7: “and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Joshua 8? Then try this: Read “and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it…” 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 Joshua 8. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Joshua 8:7. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Joshua 8 and write Joshua 8:7 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Joshua 8:7
“and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Joshua 8. Help us remember Joshua 8:7 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.