“I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.”
(Psalm 119:11, TNIV)

Robert Parmelee has created a very innovative approach to Scripture memory using the internet as a delivery system. The plan works like this: for $5 a year (a very reasonable fee considering all the work Parmelee has put into this), you get an email at the beginning of the week with a link to your memory verse for the week. That link takes you to a page just for you on the BibleMemory.us website that includes your verse and blanks for you to retype it (for practice).

The next day, a new email link will take you to a page with one word missing. On each successive day over the week, more blanks will appear for you to fill in from memory.

By the end of the week, you should be able to type in the entire verse without help.

You also get a personalized home page at the BibleMemory.us site that allows you to review all your old verses.

Bible verse are grouped according to various themes. Parmelee is also very open to suggestions for new themes as well, and in the future there are plans which would enable you to enter your own verses for memorization.

I first discovered BibleMemory.us through the ESV Bible Blog. I wrote to Robert Parmelee and asked him if he would consider making his verses available in the Today's New International Version. He was more than willing, but needed a text file of the translation. THAT was something I could help with, so a couple of weeks later, the TNIV has been plugged into his database and is now available to everyone.

This is perfect timing for me. Years back, I went through the Navigators' Topical Memory System and learned those verses in the NASB. As my use of translations has begun to change over the years, I've wondered whether I should try to re-memorize those TMS verses in something newer like the TNIV. Of course, switching the translation used for memorization can be a tricky thing; plus the TMS is not currently available in the TNIV (although I've suggested it to them). So, I think for the time being, I'll hold off on re-memorizing the TMS and use Parmelee's system instead. That should keep me busy for a while.

BibleMemory.us has verses for memorization in the ESV, KJV, NASB95, ASV, NIV, and TNIV. Parmelee's also open to other translations if you want to use something else, and merely needs a text file of your preferred translation. Currently, I believe he is looking for a copy of the NKJV if anyone has access to it in electronic form.

Regardless of which translation you would choose, give BibleMemory.us a try. Scripture memory--following whatever method--is an excellent spiritual discipline to practice. You've only matured past it when you can recite the whole Canon by heart.

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night,
so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
(Josh 1:8 TNIV)

Tags: TNIV