7 Bible Verses Every Child Should Learn

When I work with young children I like to remind them that they possess a special superpower: their memory! Although children are notorious for “forgetting” to unload the dishwasher or tidy their rooms, the truth is that God has blessed them with an amazing capacity to learn things by heart. Much like their body, the mind of a child is flexible and resilient, just waiting to be filled with facts, dates, prayers, poems, and psalms.

Kids are quick to commit things to memory, and the things they internalize often stay with them for a lifetime. This means there is immense value in helping our children to cultivate what the journalist Peter Hitchens describes as “a mind furnished with beauty.” It’s worth remembering, too, that the practice of teaching beautiful things to our children has a rich biblical pedigree, as seen in the famous Shema prayer which the Jewish people recite to this day:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

With this in mind, what follows are seven great Scriptures worth teaching diligently to your children—not to mention grandchildren, godchildren, nieces, and nephews! All quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition.

7 Bible Verses for Kids

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

Thought to have been written by King David in his later years, Psalm 37 speaks powerfully of the trust which believers ought to have in the Lord even when evildoers seem to prosper.

See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 18:10)

Jesus urges His listeners not to despise the childlike qualities of the “little ones” who have become His disciples and who enjoy the protection of their mighty guardian angels.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Jesus’s famous words to Nicodemus are a reminder that the infinite love of the Blessed Trinity is the ultimate reason for the Incarnation and the Cross.

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

Near the end of his longest and most theologically complex epistle, St. Paul shifts to a practical call to arms, exhorting his audience to uncover the will of God by rejecting a worldly way of thinking.

Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12)

St. Paul instructs the young Church leader Timothy to brush off the criticisms of people who look down on him, while at the same time excelling in personal virtue and sanctity.

The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid; what can man do to me? (Hebrews 13:6)

Originally found in Psalm 118:6, this verse appears in Hebrews in the context of living a life of radical Christian virtue and resisting an excessive attachment to money.

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3)

The First Epistle of John drives home the fact that law and love are not contradictory but rather complementary realities.

A Bonus Prayer

If your child is feeling more ambitious, you might challenge them to memorize the beautiful words of Ephesians 6:11-17:

Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

St. Paul’s instructions to the Ephesian church can become a powerful daily prayer for children and adults alike!

Further Reading

Kevin Vost, Memorize the Faith! And Most Anything Else: Using the Methods of the Great Catholic Medieval Memory Masters (Sophia Institute Press, 2006)