Week 956 · about 45 minutes
Zechariah 11
Zechariah 11 · Memory verse Zechariah 11:3
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Zechariah 11), the matching word search and answer key (Zechariah 11 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a cup of water
Hold a cup of water. Read Zechariah 11 in about four minutes, stopping at Zechariah 11:3: “A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Zechariah 11?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Zechariah 11 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars.” 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, “Then I said, “I will not feed you. That which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let those who are left eat each other’s flesh.”” Zechariah 11 opens with these words: “Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars.” The line to keep is Zechariah 11:3: “A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.” Carry the word “voice” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Zechariah 11:3: “A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Zechariah 11? Then try this: Read “A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young…” 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 Zechariah 11. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Zechariah 11:3. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Zechariah 11 and write Zechariah 11:3 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Zechariah 11:3
“A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Zechariah 11. Help us remember Zechariah 11:3 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.