Having Bible verses ready in everyday life helps to remember and apply the Word of God again and again. The only problem is that it is not easy to remember the verses. Therefore I want to help you to answer the following question: What is the best way to memorize Bible verses?
The best way to memorize Bible verses is to repeat them over and over again from your favorite translation. Regular repetition of the same words over and over again will produce the best learning results.
I have put together some tips for you on how you can best achieve this goal.
Table of Contents
Tip #1: Choose a translation you like
Everyone likes different Bible translations. To memorize certain Bible verses, you should choose a translation that you like. This does not have to be the translation that is easiest for you to read.
Choose the translation that “sounds” or “feels” right to you. Everyone perceives and enjoys the words of the Bible and their rhythm differently. I would describe the Elberfelder as more “chopping”, the Hope for All as “round” and the Luther translation as “classic”.
Your choice of translation is free. But: You should commit yourself to only one, no matter how many Bible verses you want to learn by heart. This is the only way to get used to the rhythm and expression of the text. It is best to use the translation that you read all the time anyway.
Tip #2: Get in the habit of learning Bible verses
The key to memorizing a Bible verse is: repetition, repetition, repetition. It’s like memorizing a poem for German class: as long as you’re not a memory whiz (if so, what are you doing here on this article?) you have to repeat it over and over again.
The best thing to do is to link this to fixed habits during the day: find points in your daily routine and try to spend a few minutes there learning the Bible verses.
For example, you could insert the time while brushing your teeth or just before you do your daily Bible reading (which I hope you do…). Take advantage of the fixed times of the day and supplement them with Bible verse study.
Tip #3: One Bible verse at a time
Tip number three is probably as simple as it is obvious: memorize one Bible verse at a time. It won’t do you any good to try to learn ten Bible verses at once.
Then you will learn each one in part and none really correctly. Choose one verse and learn it!
Tip #4: Memorize Bible verses that mean something to you first
If you have a hard time memorizing a Bible verse, then maybe it doesn’t mean enough to you. I give you the tip: Choose the Bible verses that are important to you and help you!
There will certainly be Bible verses that are theologically more important or could help others in certain situations at some point – but your heart is not in the matter. Let yourself be led by God and first memorize Bible verses that are important to you.
Tip #5: Set yourself a time limit
Do you know people who work better under time pressure than they did before? For some reason, this seems to be a human habit. In a tip before, I gave you the tip to create habits where you memorize a Bible verse.
The danger of this is that it can become automatic and completely lose its meaning. If you start reading the Bible verse to yourself unkindly, you will never memorize it.
Therefore, you should set yourself a time limit until this verse has become second nature to you. Only then will you create the pressure you may need.
Don’t set the time frame too small. A time frame of “two hours” will probably not be enough for you to have this Bible verse permanently stored in your memory. Give yourself weeks to do this!
Tip #6: Listen to sermons and read the Bible
If you’re as old as I am, you’ve probably heard of Pokemon. Or you’re a soccer fan. Or fan of any other sport where there are many different players.
Have you noticed that even the not-so-big fan has little trouble knowing all players’ names on the field? If this fan is a superfan, then he will also have remembered at which position these players play, how many red cards this one had and how many goals he played in this session.
What do you think: How many times will this person have sat down to systematically absorb all the players and all the facts? Probably not at all. He’s just so involved with the subject matter and so enthusiastic about it that he simply memorizes the information (whether it’s useful or not).
You can use this effect with the Bible: The more often you hear about it (sermon!) , read or listen to it (it’s even available for free!), the more “automatically” certain verses come up and the more likely you will be able to remember them. All these methods probably use different translations, but in the long run you will recognize which translation corresponds to which verse in your favorite translation.
Tip# 7- Repetition, repetition, repetition.
Practice makes perfect – this also applies to memorizing Bible verses. Therefore, constantly repeat even already known Bible verses. Check yourself, so to speak, whether you still have the old verses in your head.
How often you should do this is up to you. Depending on how fast you learn, how long the Bible verse is and how much it means to you, etc., it will have different effects on how fast you can memorize the text.
Bonus Tip: King James
It may sound like I’m contradicting tip number one with this tip of all things, but hear me out! Many people I know claim that the King James Bible is best memorized. This is said to be because he managed to use a certain rhythm and word usage that makes the whole text flow melodically.
Moreover, this translation of the Bible “sounds” like the Bible (in the sense of: classical texts). Many people, even if they grew up non-religious, are familiar with this text or with important parts of it. So here often only the memory must be “refreshed” to be able to remember certain verses better.
