Week 366 · about 45 minutes
2 Kings 17
2 Kings 17 · Memory verse 2 Kings 17:31
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (2 Kings 17), the matching word search and answer key (2 Kings 17 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 2 Kings 17 in about four minutes, stopping at 2 Kings 17:31: “and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 2 Kings 17?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
2 Kings 17 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel for nine 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, “For he tore Israel from David’s house; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king; and Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yahweh, and made them sin a great sin.” 2 Kings 17 opens with these words: “In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel for nine years.” The line to keep is 2 Kings 17:31: “and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.” Carry the word “avvites” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 2 Kings 17:31: “and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 2 Kings 17? Then try this: Read “and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech…” 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 17. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 2 Kings 17:31. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 2 Kings 17 and write 2 Kings 17:31 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
2 Kings 17:31
“and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 2 Kings 17. Help us remember 2 Kings 17:31 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.