SanghaToday Blog

One of my favorite things to do is putting Scripture to music for kids. Memorizing the Bible is super easy if you sing the verses. Consider the number of tunes you remember that you picked up when you were very young. You have that information stored in your mind. ABC’s and 123’s are important, but so is the ability to retain God’s word.

A simply melody and Bible verse combined turns into Bible songs and implants God’s Word into out hearts. But how does one get started putting Scripture to music?

The following are five suggestions I use myself in composing scripture songs:

Try to identify words that rhyme. Bible verses do not always rhyme, but Scripture can be poetic. So this rhyming pattern will work to your advantage when you are coming up with a melody line.

You will need to find the most important word or words in the Bible verse. When putting John 3:16 to music, I repeated the word “gave” to emphasize it. The repetition helped out my melody and emphasis. My kids enjoy doing some fun motions that go along with the song, which also helped me create them.

In the cases where there are no rhyming words, just repeat the melody line. All too often though, Bible verses won’t rhyme. The only thing you would need to do is to choose the lines that fit best with the melody that will be repeated in the song. So really it’s the melody that is “rhyming,” not the words.

Be certain the melodic content causes the emotion you wish to convey. Are you looking for something snappy or perhaps something more soothing to listen to? What accompanies your lyrics & what emotions do you wish to put across? To make the words stick in your mind, the emotion this creates does as much as the melody.

Lastly, the reference to the verse must be added. I think it’s essential that the Scripture song should contain the Bible verse’s address. This is a wonderful place for using your imagination. It isn’t necessary to place it in the final line of the tune. It can be put first or in the midst of the song.

Please visit KJV Bible Songs to see how I’ve implemented these techniques to write Scripture memory songs that have helped many memorize God’s Word quicker and easier.