Week 943 · about 45 minutes
Zephaniah 3
Zephaniah 3 · Memory verse Zephaniah 3:17
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Zephaniah 3), the matching word search and answer key (Zephaniah 3 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a small lamp
Hold a small lamp. Read Zephaniah 3 in about four minutes, stopping at Zephaniah 3:17: “Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Zephaniah 3?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Zephaniah 3 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city!” 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, “In that day you will not be disappointed for all your doings, in which you have transgressed against me; for then I will take away out from among you your proudly exulting ones, and you will no more be haughty in my holy mountain.” Zephaniah 3 opens with these words: “Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city!” The line to keep is Zephaniah 3:17: “Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with…” Carry the word “mighty” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Zephaniah 3:17: “Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Zephaniah 3? Then try this: Read “Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm…” 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 Zephaniah 3. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Zephaniah 3:17. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Zephaniah 3 and write Zephaniah 3:17 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Zephaniah 3:17
“Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Zephaniah 3. Help us remember Zephaniah 3:17 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.