Week 899 · about 45 minutes
Hosea 3
Hosea 3 · Memory verse Hosea 3:5
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Hosea 3), the matching word search and answer key (Hosea 3 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a key
Hold a key. Read Hosea 3 in about four minutes, stopping at Hosea 3:5: “Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Hosea 3?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Hosea 3 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins.”” 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, “I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you.”” Hosea 3 opens with these words: “Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they…” The line to keep is Hosea 3:5: “Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings…” Carry the word “afterward” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Hosea 3:5: “Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Hosea 3? Then try this: Read “Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall…” 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 Hosea 3. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Hosea 3:5. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Hosea 3 and write Hosea 3:5 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Hosea 3:5
“Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Hosea 3. Help us remember Hosea 3:5 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.