What is the first Bible verse you memorized?

I bet if you ask 100 Christ Followers what was the first Bible verse they ever memorized, 99 of the would say John 3:16!  And, I would too!

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, Jesus, that whosoever believed in Him would not perish, but have eternal life.

(my own version – a mishmash of translations)

I can’t remember when or why I memorized it, but I did and it’s there in my head whenever I think God doesn’t love me and has abandoned me.  No, this verse tells how MUCH he loves me!

Through Hello Mornings, I heard about Do Not Depart’s Classic Bible Verse Memorization Challenge for the summer weeks.  And, I decided to join.  The first week’s (this week) verse is John 3:16.

For this challenge, I decided I would relearn this verse via the Amplified Version of the Bible.  If you aren’t familiar with this version, here is a definition from their website:

The Amplified Bible was the first Bible project of The Lockman Foundation. It attempts to take both word meaning and context into account in order to accurately translate the original text from one language into another. The Amplified Bible does this through the use of explanatory alternate readings and amplifications to assist the reader in understanding what Scripture really says. Multiple English word equivalents to each key Hebrew and Greek word clarify and amplify meanings that may otherwise have been concealed by the traditional translation method.

So, here is the verse again, in the Amplified version.

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

Isn’t that beautiful?! I’m working on learning this version to give me a better grasp of a verse that I take for granted that I already know! But this translation showed me I was missing some of the Truth of this verse!

If you want to know more about this challenge, anyone can join at any time, check out this link: