Week 820 · about 45 minutes
Jeremiah 39
Jeremiah 39 · Memory verse Jeremiah 39:18
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Jeremiah 39), the matching word search and answer key (Jeremiah 39 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a ribbon
Hold a ribbon. Read Jeremiah 39 in about four minutes, stopping at Jeremiah 39:18: “For I will surely save you, and you won’t fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life; because you have put your trust in me,” says Yahweh.’”” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Jeremiah 39?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Jeremiah 39 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it.” 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, “But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.” Jeremiah 39 opens with these words: “In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem,…” The line to keep is Jeremiah 39:18: “For I will surely save you, and you won’t fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life; because you have put your trust in me,” says Yahweh.’”” Carry the word “surely” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Jeremiah 39:18: “For I will surely save you, and you won’t fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life; because you have put your trust in me,” says Yahweh.’”” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Jeremiah 39? Then try this: Read “For I will surely save you, and you won’t fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life; because you…” 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 39. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Jeremiah 39:18. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Jeremiah 39 and write Jeremiah 39:18 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Jeremiah 39:18
“For I will surely save you, and you won’t fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life; because you have put your trust in me,” says Yahweh.’””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Jeremiah 39. Help us remember Jeremiah 39:18 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.