Scripture Memory Program: Memorizing the Books of the Bible

Memorizing the books of the Bible is a great benefit and study tool for believers of any age. Knowing the order of the books of Holy Scripture allows a more consistent flow to your study time. Following this program will help you begin to do just that. You can even adapt the program to work with children still too young to read or write. When our family began the program our youngest was just 19 months old, and when we finished the program she also learned to recite the books in order, just by hearing the older kids doing it every day. Three years later, she still knows them.

To begin the memory work, we start with four books at a time, and spend one week on that section of four. The reason we’ve chosen to memorize in sections of four, is because there is a comfortable, natural, musical rhythm in reciting four at a time.

Beginning with Genesis, write out the first four books in order, on a numbered list (see linked forms below). There are two benefits to doing it this way. First, writing out the word(s) you’re memorizing and seeing them in your own handwriting reinforces the memory work. Second, seeing them in numbered order helps to keep track of where you are in the program (and see your progress).

On the first day, the first four books are written out and then you’ll cover them with your hand (or close your eyes) and recite them again. At the beginning of each day (before devotion, school, work, prayer, etc.) you should get out the form and go over them once, then cover them and recite them. Spend one week doing this (pace yourself), even if you have them memorized before the end of the week. Do this once in the morning, and once again in the evening. You might even want to try doing it several times at once, or at an additional time during the day. We encouraged the kids to pretend they were taking a snapshot in their mind of the printed words, and then recite them from what they saw in the snapshot.

GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS

At the beginning of the second week, you’ll write out the names of the next four books in order. Repeating the process above, once they’re written then close your eyes or cover up your list and recite them out loud. You’ll also add the books you did the first week (and repeat this process with each additional week to reinforce what you’ve already learned).

GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, DEUTERONOMY, JOSHUA, JUDGES, RUTH

Continuing this way each week with the next set of four, you might also want to set aside one day a week (we chose Sunday evening devotional time) to recite them all, without your notes in front of you. With some dedication and time, this will work for you! With each passing week you will have memorized more and more books, and by the end of the program, you should be able to recite them all purely from memory. Our family did the program this way, and three years later we still recite them all once a week.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask or leave a comment. It's really a very simple exercise in repetition that will help you and your family memorize the order of the Books of the Bible. If your family does use this program, we'd sure love to hear from you!

DOWNLOAD THE SIMPLE FORMS:
66 Books BLANK Form - 66 Books FILLED Form

You may want to post the filled form somewhere in your home where you'll see it often, every day.