How to Memorize Bible verses - Walking in the Way

Memorizing Bible Verses

Have you ever tried to memorize Bible verses? Do you know how? This post shows you 3 easy ways to add to your arsenal of memorizing bible scriptures.

The three ways I have tried and enjoyed in the past are:

Plain ordinary flashcards with repetition.
Writing out the verse and staring at it.
A Bible Memory verse rotation system.

My personal favorite method of bible verse memorization is the last one. But I’ll describe each briefly.

Method 1: Flashcards

I think this was my first entry into bible verse memorization (unless you count the “Our Father” prayer I learned as a song when I was a child.)

I happened to have a college-level class that required memorization of 200 bible scriptures, but the class materials came with a set of pre-printed scripture cards. So I just used lots of repetition by reading the card. Reading the card aloud, reading the card silently, closing my eyes and “reading” it in my brain. Whatever way I could do it.

I had been in plays in high school and college, so I was used to memorizing large chunks of material. Looking back on this method, I did some things right, and I could have done some things better.

How to quiz yourself with a flashcard memorization system

Flashcards in and of themselves are just conveniently sized pieces of paper listing the thing you are trying to memorize.

Nearly everyone who has tips for how to memorize bible verses suggests memorizing just one verse at a time.

In other words, with a set of flashcards, select one to work with at a time.

Read it aloud.
Repeat.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you can close your eyes and get the whole thing from memory.
Say the whole verse from memory without looking at the card.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you can say the verse 5 times in a row correctly.
Move on to the next card.
After card 2 is “complete”, repeat card 1 from memory.
If you need to go back to refresh your memory, that’s part of the process.

Set your timer for a set amount of time each day. Start each session by reading aloud once each card that has been “completed”. Start with any cards that need refreshing.

Other ways to use flashcards

There are so many flashcard games you can play! If you have an accountability partner, you can do the cards together. Here are some flashcard games:

Speed: Set a timer to see how long your completed flashcards take for you to say aloud.
Races: Compete with your accountability partner for speed and accuracy, like the old fashioned typing test. Score= Time minus errors. Low score wins.
Race against yourself: Keep track over a week to see how good you can get.

Making your own flashcards

Writing the memory verse down while saying it aloud is another way to engage the brain. Use your best calligraphy on cardstock or index cards or and index card wire notebook. Decorate each scripture as inspired.

Method 2: Writing

So, writing your own flashcards is one way to write your memory verse. Other places to write it include:

A journal: I practice my hand lettering skills this way.
A commonplace notebook: I keep quotes from the Bible and other books that are most meaningful to me.
A dry-erase board

Writing on a Dry Erase Board

This last option – a dry-erase board – has a good memory game variety.

Write the scripture on the board.
Read it aloud.
Erase one word.
Then read the scripture again, “seeing” the missing word in your head as you say it aloud.
Repeat 3 and 4 until all the words are gone.
Write the scripture on the board again from memory.

Method 3: Bible verse rotation system

This is my favorite method to memorize scripture. Basically, you read 4 scriptures aloud a day. Once.

This system works right off the bat but it is a great system once you have a number of “completed” verses under your belt. I found this idea a long time ago and wrote about it on my education blog because we used it to practice “memorizing” habits.

Sonya Shafer at Simply Charlotte Mason explains the rotational memory system for bible verse memory for kids in just 5 minutes a day.

My family learned this memory system many years ago from Sonya Shafer of Simply Charlotte Mason

Free scripture cards

To help you memorize scripture, I’ve created a set of bible verse cards. This first set I call “Hermeneutics”.

What is Hermeneutics?

Hermeneutics is one of those fancy bible study terms that simply means interpretation. What are you assuming about the bible as you dive into it?

Knowing your own assumptions or someone else’s can help you understand each other better.

For instance, during Jesus’s time, there were two factions of his religion that believed the exact opposite about resurrection – the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection, but the Pharisees did. Both factions started from the same scriptures. But their interpretations of several scriptures were vastly different.

So to be clear: this set of scriptures help define my hermeneutics. I think the Bible interprets itself and that the Old Testament is the basis of Jesus’s and the apostles’ (including Paul’s) beliefs, writings and sayings. If you are going to study the Bible, I think you need to start somewhere!

A dozen verses

It’s actually pretty hard to narrow a theme down to just 12 verses. There are so many good scriptures.

So I have a baker’s dozen. Here’s what they look like:

Download the complete set

If you’d like to download this free set, click the button!

Download Memory Scripture Set 1

For Further Study

Here are some additional places to go for more information on memorizing the Bible:

I hope you enjoy this set of memory scriptures from the Bible.