Week 917 · about 45 minutes
Amos 4
Amos 4 · Memory verse Amos 4:2
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Amos 4), the matching word search and answer key (Amos 4 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a folded cloth
Hold a folded cloth. Read Amos 4 in about four minutes, stopping at Amos 4:2: “The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that behold, “The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Amos 4?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Amos 4 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”” 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 also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One place was rained on, and the piece where it didn’t rain withered.” Amos 4 opens with these words: “Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their…” The line to keep is Amos 4:2: “The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that behold, “The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks.” Carry the word “sworn” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Amos 4:2: “The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that behold, “The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Amos 4? Then try this: Read “The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that behold, “The days shall come on you that they will take 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 Amos 4. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Amos 4:2. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Amos 4 and write Amos 4:2 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Amos 4:2
“The Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that behold, “The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Amos 4. Help us remember Amos 4:2 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.