Week 370 · about 45 minutes
2 Kings 21
2 Kings 21 · Memory verse 2 Kings 21:2
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (2 Kings 21), the matching word search and answer key (2 Kings 21 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a ribbon
Hold a ribbon. Read 2 Kings 21 in about four minutes, stopping at 2 Kings 21:2: “He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 2 Kings 21?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
2 Kings 21 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.” 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, “I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hands of their enemies. They will become a prey and a plunder to all their enemies,” 2 Kings 21 opens with these words: “Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.” The line to keep is 2 Kings 21:2: “He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.” Carry the word “evil” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 2 Kings 21:2: “He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 2 Kings 21? Then try this: Read “He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out…” 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 21. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 2 Kings 21:2. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 2 Kings 21 and write 2 Kings 21:2 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
2 Kings 21:2
“He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 2 Kings 21. Help us remember 2 Kings 21:2 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.