Week 378 · about 45 minutes
1 Chronicles 4
1 Chronicles 4 · Memory verse 1 Chronicles 4:27
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Chronicles 4), the matching word search and answer key (1 Chronicles 4 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a seed
Hold a seed. Read 1 Chronicles 4 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Chronicles 4:27: “Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers didn’t have many children, and all their family did not multiply like the children of Judah.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Chronicles 4?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Chronicles 4 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal.” 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, “and Jokim, and the men of Cozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who had dominion in Moab, and Jashubilehem. These records are ancient.” 1 Chronicles 4 opens with these words: “The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal.” The line to keep is 1 Chronicles 4:27: “Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers didn’t have many children, and all their family did not multiply like the children of Judah.” Carry the word “shimei” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Chronicles 4:27: “Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers didn’t have many children, and all their family did not multiply like the children of Judah.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Chronicles 4? Then try this: Read “Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers didn’t have many children, and all their family…” 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 1 Chronicles 4. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Chronicles 4:27. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Chronicles 4 and write 1 Chronicles 4:27 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Chronicles 4:27
“Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers didn’t have many children, and all their family did not multiply like the children of Judah.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Chronicles 4. Help us remember 1 Chronicles 4:27 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.