Week 890 · about 45 minutes
Daniel 5
Daniel 5 · Memory verse Daniel 5:14
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Daniel 5), the matching word search and answer key (Daniel 5 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a ribbon
Hold a ribbon. Read Daniel 5 in about four minutes, stopping at Daniel 5:14: “I have heard of you, that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light, understanding, and excellent wisdom are found in you.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Daniel 5?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Daniel 5 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.” 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 I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations, and dissolve doubts. Now if you can read the writing, and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.”” Daniel 5 opens with these words: “Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.” The line to keep is Daniel 5:14: “I have heard of you, that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light, understanding, and excellent wisdom are found in you.” Carry the word “heard” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Daniel 5:14: “I have heard of you, that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light, understanding, and excellent wisdom are found in you.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Daniel 5? Then try this: Read “I have heard of you, that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light, understanding, and excellent…” 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 Daniel 5. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Daniel 5:14. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Daniel 5 and write Daniel 5:14 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Daniel 5:14
“I have heard of you, that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light, understanding, and excellent wisdom are found in you.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Daniel 5. Help us remember Daniel 5:14 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.