Week 723 · about 45 minutes
Isaiah 8
Isaiah 8 · Memory verse Isaiah 8:4
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Isaiah 8), the matching word search and answer key (Isaiah 8 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a small lamp
Hold a small lamp. Read Isaiah 8 in about four minutes, stopping at Isaiah 8:4: “For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Isaiah 8?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Isaiah 8 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Yahweh said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man’s pen, ‘For Maher Shalal Hash Baz’;” 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, ““Don’t say, ‘A conspiracy!’ concerning all about which this people say, ‘A conspiracy!’ neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized.” Isaiah 8 opens with these words: “Yahweh said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man’s pen, ‘For Maher Shalal Hash Baz’;” The line to keep is Isaiah 8:4: “For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of…” Carry the word “child” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Isaiah 8:4: “For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.”” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Isaiah 8? Then try this: Read “For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder…” 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 Isaiah 8. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Isaiah 8:4. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Isaiah 8 and write Isaiah 8:4 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Isaiah 8:4
“For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Isaiah 8. Help us remember Isaiah 8:4 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.