Week 362 · about 45 minutes
2 Kings 13
2 Kings 13 · Memory verse 2 Kings 13:5
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (2 Kings 13), the matching word search and answer key (2 Kings 13 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a paper crown
Hold a paper crown. Read 2 Kings 13 in about four minutes, stopping at 2 Kings 13:5: “(Yahweh gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel lived in their tents as before.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 2 Kings 13?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
2 Kings 13 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria for seventeen years.” 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, “Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.” 2 Kings 13 opens with these words: “In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria for…” The line to keep is 2 Kings 13:5: “(Yahweh gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel lived in their tents as before.” Carry the word “gave” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 2 Kings 13:5: “(Yahweh gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel lived in their tents as before.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 2 Kings 13? Then try this: Read “(Yahweh gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and 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 2 Kings 13. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 2 Kings 13:5. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 2 Kings 13 and write 2 Kings 13:5 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
2 Kings 13:5
“(Yahweh gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel lived in their tents as before.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 2 Kings 13. Help us remember 2 Kings 13:5 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.