Family Scripture Memorizing

Bible Passages for Memorizing
by Ruth Beechick

A basic family tradition is memorizing Scripture. Your family can do this together—easily. Choose a Bible passage such as the Twenty-Third Psalm, and choose a time. Family devotions are an ideal setting for this tradition. Otherwise, choose breakfast or another meal that you share together. Even car time will work for some families with a regular driving schedule.

The Best Memory Method

To begin, you all simply recite the psalm together. Those who read may use their Bibles. Children who do not read follow as best they can, listening or saying some parts as they trail along behind. That is all for day one. The following days are similar. The goal is that in three months or so, all who are old enough will know the psalm by heart. Even the very youngest children gain in many ways, whether or not they actually memorize.

This method of memorizing is called the “whole method.” When you learn a passage this way, you end up able to recite smoothly through it all, just as you recite smoothly through the alphabet without stopping to think which letter comes next. You also learn faster with less work by using this whole method. Research documents the results of the whole method: memorizing is more efficient, takes less total time, and produces better memory results.

Most people commonly use the “part method” for memorizing extended passages. This means learning one verse, then adding the next, and so forth. This takes longer, and the result is usually a less smooth recitation, as they sometimes pause to think which verse comes next.

As you recite the psalm each day, the children who read will gradually quit following in their Bibles, or you may need to suggest that they look up from their Bible pages when they can. Occasionally you might check that a child correctly pronounces a word like righteousness. Answer questions the children have about meaning, but it is not necessary to study the psalm while memorizing it. Some books for Sunday school teachers say, “Be sure the children understand the verse before they memorize it.” This is useless advice. When do any of us fully understand a Scripture? Children can just as well memorize first and learn the meaning more fully as they grow older.

Continue reciting daily until you have not just learned a passage, but overlearned it. Then review on a diminishing schedule. For instance, for one or two months recite the passage once a week (instead of the new passage you are starting to learn). Then review once a month. Eventually, once a year will be sufficient. There is no specific rule about this schedule. The length of a passage, the amount of overlearning, and other variables all affect this, so adjust as you see a need for more review or less. The principle of a diminishing need for review will continue to apply.

If your family learns three or four passages a year—or even just two—these add up to considerable Scripture for your children to carry in their hearts wherever life may take them—to legislative halls or to enemy prison camps, to their future families or to fellow workers. After some passages of six or fewer verses, your family may feel brave enough to tackle a longer passage, perhaps a full chapter.

Bible Passages for Memorizing

Make your own selections or choose some from this list. You can shorten most of these or, in some cases, extend to make a longer portion. (My son Allen, who learned all these as a child and many whole books as a teen, says Psalm 34 is his favorite. At age 8 he recited Isaiah 53 with its big words, and said, “I like the words of the Bible; they sound so good.”)

Psalms 1, 8, 19, 23, 24, 34, 100

Exodus 20:1-17, Ten Commandments

Joshua 1:7-9, meditate on the book

Proverbs 8:22-31, wisdom speaks (Christ himself)

Proverbs 15:1-6, soft answer

Isaiah 53:1-6 (or the whole chapter), Man of sorrows

Matthew 5:3-12, Beatitudes

Matthew 5:19-24, treasures in Heaven

Luke 2:1-7 (or to 16 or 20), Christmas story

John 1:1-14, the Word became flesh

John 3:14-18, God so loved the world

John 14:1-4 (or to 14), mansions in the Father’s house

Romans 1:14-15 (or to 20 or farther), not ashamed of the Gospel

I Corinthians 13, love

Ephesians 2:8-10, saved by grace

Philippians 4:4-8, rejoice

James 1:22-25, doers of the Word