Week 241 · about 45 minutes
Joshua 13
Joshua 13 · Memory verse Joshua 13:10
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 13), the matching word search and answer key (Joshua 13 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a wooden spoon
Hold a wooden spoon. Read Joshua 13 in about four minutes, stopping at Joshua 13:10: “and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, to the border of the children of Ammon;” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Joshua 13?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Joshua 13 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Now Joshua was old and well advanced in years. Yahweh said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to be possessed.” 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, “Heshbon, and all its cities that are in the plain; Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon,” Joshua 13 opens with these words: “Now Joshua was old and well advanced in years. Yahweh said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much…” The line to keep is Joshua 13:10: “and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, to the border of the children of Ammon;” Carry the word “cities” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Joshua 13:10: “and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, to the border of the children of Ammon;” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Joshua 13? Then try this: Read “and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, to the border of the children of…” 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 13. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Joshua 13:10. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Joshua 13 and write Joshua 13:10 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Joshua 13:10
“and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, to the border of the children of Ammon;”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Joshua 13. Help us remember Joshua 13:10 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.