Bible Clothesline

Preparation

Download, print and cut up the Books of the Bible Cards.
There are 66 cards, corresponding to the 66 Books of the Bible.
(You will need 1 set per team.)

You may also like to download and print the following optional resources for your reference during the game or for your discussion thereafter.
Books of the Bible Chart

Sections of the Bible Overview

How to Play

You will need a large room or field for this game.
(Each Books of the Bible Card is the size of the standard bridge card, so 66 cards in a row will stretch to more than 12 feet long.)

The objective of this game is to be the first team to arrange all 66 Books of the Bible Cards in the correct order.

We suggest a 5-minute time limit for this game, but you may need to adjust the timing depending on the ages of your players and the size of your playing area.

At one end of the room/field, have players form teams and stand in lines.
At the opposite end of the room/field, set up a clothesline at least 13 feet long with 66 clothes pegs.
Shuffle each set of 66 Books of the Bible Cards and peg them randomly on the clothesline.
(Alternatively, you can place the cards on the floor.)

On “go”, the first player from each team runs to the opposite end to swap the positions of any 2 cards, then runs back.
The next player does the same.
Carry on doing this until the team is satisfied that all 66 cards are in the correct order.

Once all teams are ready, or when the time is up, review the order of the cards.

Scoring:
Award 1 point for every card in the correct position.
Perfect score: 66 points.

Variation: Play with Fewer Cards

Playing with the full set of 66 cards can be challenging and perhaps discouraging for some players.

Consider playing with Old Testament and New Testament cards separately:
In one session, you can play with only the 39 Old Testament cards.
In another separate session, play with only the 27 New Testament cards.

Bible Lesson – Books and Sections of the Bible

Discuss
1. Did you enjoy this game?
2. Was it easy to arrange the Books of the Bible Cards in the correct order? What was a quick way to identify cards that belong together?

Say
In addition to an image and the name of the book, each Books of the Bible Card features a color bar which indicates which section of the Bible the book belongs to. This helps players know which cards belong to the same section.

Let’s play a different game right now.
Instead of arranging Books of the Bible Cards, we will look for a specific Bible passage in our Bibles.
(Ensure that everyone has a hardcopy Bible.)
Let’s see who can be the first to locate 2 Timothy 3:16-17 in the Bible…

Discuss
3. (Ask the fastest person.) Tell us how you managed to find these verses so quickly?
4. (Ask a volunteer who struggled to locate these verses.) What can help you find these verses quicker the next time?

Say
The Bible is not one single book, but a collection of 66 smaller books that tell one unified story.
Just like the Books of the Bible Cards, these 66 books of the Bible are organized into sections.
Being familiar with how the Bible is organized helps us quickly find specific passages in the Bible.

Discuss
5. The Bible is divided into two main parts. What are the names of these parts?
6. What are some differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament?

7. How are the 39 books of the Old Testament organized?
8. What are the 5 sections of the Old Testament called?
9. How would you describe each of these 5 sections?

10. How are the 27 books of the New Testament organized?
11. What are these 5 sections called?
12. How would you describe each of these 5 sections?

13. How important is it for us to know the organization of the Bible into the various sections that we have just discussed?

Conclude
Being familiar with the 66 books of the Bible and how they are organized helps us more quickly locate specific passages in the Bible. More importantly, knowing which section of the Bible a passage is taken from gives us an idea of its genre and helps us understand the passage better.