Week 903 · about 45 minutes
Hosea 7
Hosea 7 · Memory verse Hosea 7:2
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Hosea 7), the matching word search and answer key (Hosea 7 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a small lamp
Hold a small lamp. Read Hosea 7 in about four minutes, stopping at Hosea 7:2: “They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Hosea 7?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Hosea 7 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “When I would heal Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered, also the wickedness of Samaria; for they commit falsehood, and the thief enters in, and the gang of robbers ravages outside.” 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, “Strangers have devoured his strength, and he doesn’t realize it. Indeed, gray hairs are here and there on him, and he doesn’t realize it.” Hosea 7 opens with these words: “When I would heal Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered, also the wickedness of Samaria; for they commit falsehood, and the…” The line to keep is Hosea 7:2: “They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face.” Carry the word “consider” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Hosea 7:2: “They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Hosea 7? Then try this: Read “They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed…” 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 7. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Hosea 7:2. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Hosea 7 and write Hosea 7:2 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Hosea 7:2
“They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Hosea 7. Help us remember Hosea 7:2 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.