Week 537 · about 45 minutes
Psalms 23
Psalms 23 · Memory verse Psalms 23:4
Get the free weekly Sunday school and bedtime printable pack
For a parent or teacher. Children do not make accounts here. The pack is a week of printables, not a child profile.
Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Psalms 23), the matching word search and answer key (Psalms 23 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a folded cloth
Hold a folded cloth. Read Psalms 23 in about four minutes, stopping at Psalms 23:4: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Psalms 23?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Psalms 23 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing.” 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, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalms 23 opens with these words: “Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing.” The line to keep is Psalms 23:4: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Carry the word “though” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Psalms 23:4: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Psalms 23? Then try this: Read “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your…” 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 Psalms 23. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Psalms 23:4. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Psalms 23 and write Psalms 23:4 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Psalms 23:4
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Psalms 23. Help us remember Psalms 23:4 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.