The lost of art of meditating and memorizing Scripture is a key discipline in the life of the disciple. Most believers know that Scripture memory is a good discipline but just don’t know where to start. If no one has ever trained you in this work, here is a workable method that might help.
One Scripture memory collection that I encourage you to consider is to memorize a theme verse from every book in the Bible.
Coming up with the list was the biggest challenge I had – having to choose between such rich verses was agonizing! I’ve had a list like this before but changed it a couple of times. I tried to make many of the verses not only thematic for the individual book but also familiar when possible.
There might be verses in the list below that you would substitute, and that is great – make this list your own. Work systematically to memorize a key verse from every book in the Bible. Here’s the 66 Themes list that I made that could get you started.
66 Themes
- Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
- Exodus 20:2 – I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Leviticus 18:4 – You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God.
- Numbers 23:19 – God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
- Deuteronomy 6:5 – You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
- Joshua 1:9 – Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.
- Judges 21:25 – In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
- Ruth 1:16 – But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
- 1 Samuel 16:7 – But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
- 2 Samuel 7:16 – And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.
- 1 Kings 3:9 – Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?
- 2 Kings 13:23 – But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, nor has he cast them from his presence until now.
- 1 Chronicles 29:11 – Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.
- 2 Chronicles 16:9 – For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.
- Ezra 7:10 – For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.
- Nehemiah 1:6 – let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.
- Esther 4:14 – For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
- Job 1:21 – And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
- Psalm 103:1 – Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
- Proverbs 3:6 – In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
- Ecclesiastes 12:13 – The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
- Song of Solomon 8:6 – Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD.
- Isaiah 40:31 – but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
- Jeremiah 29:13 – You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
- Lamentations 3:22 – The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
- Ezekiel 36:26 – And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
- Daniel 4:35 – all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
- Hosea 6:6 – For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
- Joel 2:13 – and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
- Amos 5:14 – Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said.
- Obadiah 1:4 – Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the LORD.
- Jonah 2:9 – But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!
- Micah 6:8 – He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Nahum 1:7 – The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.
- Habakkuk 3:2 – O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.
- Zephaniah 3:17 – The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
- Haggai 2:9 – The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.
- Zechariah 1:3 – Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.
- Malachi 3:6 – For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
- Matthew 6:33 – But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
- Mark 10:45 – For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
- Luke 19:10 – For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
- John 14:6 – Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
- Acts 1:8 – But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
- Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
- 1 Corinthians 10:31 – So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
- 2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
- Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
- Ephesians 2:8 – For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
- Philippians 3:7 – But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
- Colossians 3:2 – Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:2 – For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:3 – But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
- 1 Timothy 4:16 – Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
- 2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness
- Titus 3:5 – he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
- Philemon 1:6 – and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.
- Hebrews 12:2 – looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
- James 2:17 – So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
- 1 Peter 5:7 – casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
- 2 Peter 3:18 – But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
- 1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- 2 John 1:6 – And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.
- 3 John 1:4 – I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
- Jude 1:21 – keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
- Revelation 21:5 – And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.