Week 86 · about 45 minutes
Genesis 38
Genesis 38 · Memory verse Genesis 38:1
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 (Genesis 38), the matching word search and answer key (Genesis 38 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a cup of water
Hold a cup of water. Read Genesis 38 in about four minutes, stopping at Genesis 38:1: “At that time, Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Genesis 38?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Genesis 38 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “At that time, Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.” 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, “He turned to her by the way, and said, “Please come, let me come in to you,” for he didn’t know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”” Genesis 38 opens with these words: “At that time, Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.” The line to keep is Genesis 38:1: “At that time, Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.” Carry the word “time” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Genesis 38:1: “At that time, Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Genesis 38? Then try this: Read “At that time, Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.” 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 Genesis 38. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Genesis 38:1. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Genesis 38 and write Genesis 38:1 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Genesis 38:1
“At that time, Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Genesis 38. Help us remember Genesis 38:1 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.