Andrew Davis has written a small book on how to memorize long passages of Scripture. I thought the technique was very helpful.
Here are some of his ideas. You can find the entire PDF here:
(Also I highly recommend another book by Andrew Davis entitled, "An Infinite Journey.)
Now some memorization thoughts from Pastor Davis:
Surveying the Terrain
The next step is to survey the entire book for length, and decide how quickly you feel you can memorize it. Perhaps you can start at one verse per day, six days per week. I always recommend taking one day off per week so you don’t get burned out, or to take up the slack for days in which you are sick or exceptionally busy.
The way you survey the terrain is this:
1) Count the number of verses in the entire book.
2) Divide that number by the number of verses you will memorize per week. This is how many weeks the book should take you.
3) Look at a calendar and determine a tentative finish date.
4) Add 10% so as to not feel under tremendous pressure until you get used to this lifestyle (i.e. If you are doing Ephesians—155 verses—at the rate of 6 verses per week, it will take you 26 weeks, or exactly 6 months; add 10%--3 weeks—for a total of 29 weeks).
5) Make a covenant before the Lord that, with his help, you will memorize this book by this date:
“Lord, having sought you in prayer, I believe that you have led me to memorize (name of the book) . I now dedicate myself
to begin this task with your help and for your glory. I commit myself to memorizing this by (date).”
Sign and date the covenant, and put it in a place where you can get to it regularly when the times get tough.
The purpose of surveying the terrain is to mark out a reasonable pace which will make achievement of your goal a probability. It will teach you how much you need to do every day, and when you should finish. The survey leads to a covenant that helps you keep persevering.
Daily Procedures
Priority of reviewing old verses: Always give priority in your mind to the retaining of old verses even over the learning of new ones.
What’s the point in going on to new ones if you don’t hold onto the old? This doesn’t mean you should re-memorize the old ones… just that you should begin every day’s work with review of old verses. Look on that at what you need to do to earn the privilege of acquiring some precious new verses. (Work before play!)
Repetition over time: Saying a verse 100 times in one day is not as helpful as saying it every day for 100 days. The absolute key to successful Scripture memorization is repetition over a long time period. This is how you retain old verses while learning new ones.
Memorizing the verse numbers: An important note is that it is well-worth the extra effort to memorize the verse numbers as if they were part of each verse. This will help prevent you from dropping out verses or even whole paragraphs when you’re reciting the book all the way through. It will also help you in being able to pick individual verses out to quote to someone for ministry or evangelistic purposes. Finally, it will help you to be able to recall the verses as you are reading Christian books that cite them… you won’t have to look them up! Ephesians 1:1-3’s verse numbers would be said like this: “
One-one. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus;
One-two Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. One-three Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…” etc. Longer verse numbers are no different… Ephesians 6:11 would be “
Six-eleven.
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Acts 27:25-26 would be
“
Twenty-seven twenty-five. So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.
Twenty-seven twenty-six. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.” DON’T SHORT-CUT THIS DISCIPLINE!! It actually makes memorization easier in the long run!
Photographing the verses with your eyes: Memorization is partly visual. This is not to say that blind people can’t memorize the Bible, but just that the memorization process is connected very closely to the eye. Read each new verse ten times, covering each word as though photographing it with your eyes. I can still remember where some particular verses were on the page of the Bible I first used to memorize them. Burn each verse into your brain with your eyes.
Say it out loud: Another help in memorizing is to say the verse out loud to yourself. The additional sensory input to your brain helps the memorization process. It doesn’t have to be very loud, just loud enough so you can hear it. Also, try putting some feeling and interpretation into reciting the verses… this is actually a form of meditation on the verses as you
are learning them. Sample daily procedure : The following is an example of how someone could go about memorizing Ephesians at the rate
of one verse per day:
1) Day one
: Read Ephesians 1:1 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes.
Be sure to include the verse number. Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You’re done for the day.
2) Day two
: Yesterday’s verse first!! Recite yesterday’s verse, Ephesians 1:1 ten times, being sure to include the verse number. Look in the Bible if you need to, just to refresh your memory. Now, do your new verse.
Read Ephesians 1:2 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes. Be sure to include the verse number. Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You’re done for the day.
3) Day three
: Yesterday’s verse first!! Recite yesterday’s verse, Ephesians 1:2 ten times, being sure to include the verse number. Again, you should look in the Bible if you need to, just to refresh your memory. Old verses next, altogether: Recite Ephesians 1:1-2 together once, being sure to include the verse numbers.
Now, do your new verse. Read Ephesians 1:3 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes. Be sure to include the verse number. Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You're done for the day.
4) Day four: Yesterday’s verse first!! Recite yesterday’s verse, Ephesians 1:3 ten times, being sure to include the verse number. Again, you should look in the Bible if you need to, just to refresh your memory. Old verses next, altogether: Recite Ephesians 1:1-3 together once, being sure to include the verse numbers. Now, do your new verse. Read Ephesians 1:4 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes. Be sure to include the verse number. Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You’re done for the day.
This cycle would continue through the entire book. Obviously, the “old verses altogether” stage will soon swell to take the most time of all. That’s exactly the way it should be. The entire book of Ephesians can be read at a reasonable rate in less than fifteen minutes. Therefore, the “old verses altogether” stage of your review should not take longer than that on any given day. Do it with the Bible ready at hand, in case you draw a blank or get stuck… there’s no shame in looking, and it actually helps to nail
down troublesome verses so they will never be trouble again. Therefore, your 60th day should look like this.
60) Day sixty
: (eight days off in that span means you’re on your 52nd new verse, which would be Ephesians 3:7)
Yesterday’s verse first!! Recite yesterday’s verse, Ephesians 3:6 ten times, being sure to include the verse number.
Again, you should look in the Bible if you need to, just to refresh your memory. Old verses next, altogether: Recite
Ephesians 1:1-3:6 together once, being sure to include the verse numbers. LOOK IN THE BIBLE IF YOU NEED
TO, SO THIS PROCESS WON’T TAKE TOO LONG!!! Now, do your new verse. Read Ephesians 3:7 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes. Be sure to include the verse number. Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You’re done for the day.
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