Week 798 · about 45 minutes
Jeremiah 17
Jeremiah 17 · Memory verse Jeremiah 17:5
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Jeremiah 17), the matching word search and answer key (Jeremiah 17 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a seed
Hold a seed. Read Jeremiah 17 in about four minutes, stopping at Jeremiah 17:5: “Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Jeremiah 17?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Jeremiah 17 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, ““The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars.” 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, “Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved; for you are my praise.” Jeremiah 17 opens with these words: ““The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the…” The line to keep is Jeremiah 17:5: “Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.” Carry the word “cursed” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Jeremiah 17:5: “Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Jeremiah 17? Then try this: Read “Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from…” 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 Jeremiah 17. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Jeremiah 17:5. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Jeremiah 17 and write Jeremiah 17:5 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Jeremiah 17:5
“Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Jeremiah 17. Help us remember Jeremiah 17:5 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.