Week 458 · about 45 minutes
Nehemiah 9
Nehemiah 9 · Memory verse Nehemiah 9:1
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Nehemiah 9), the matching word search and answer key (Nehemiah 9 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a seed
Hold a seed. Read Nehemiah 9 in about four minutes, stopping at Nehemiah 9:1: “Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Nehemiah 9?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Nehemiah 9 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them.” 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, “You gave also your good Spirit to instruct them, and didn’t withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.” Nehemiah 9 opens with these words: “Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them.” The line to keep is Nehemiah 9:1: “Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them.” Carry the word “twenty” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Nehemiah 9:1: “Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Nehemiah 9? Then try this: Read “Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with…” 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 Nehemiah 9. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Nehemiah 9:1. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Nehemiah 9 and write Nehemiah 9:1 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Nehemiah 9:1
“Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Nehemiah 9. Help us remember Nehemiah 9:1 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.