Come, Follow Me · August 17–23, 2026
PSALMS 1–2; 8; 19–33; 40; 46
You're teaching tomorrow. Work down this page: learn the material first, then build a plan you can hold in your hand.
Part 1 — Know it
Fifteen minutes here and you'll know more than most of the room. Read this part before you plan anything.
150 poems collected over roughly a thousand years, used in Israel's temple worship the way a hymnbook is used today. The Hebrew title is Tehillim — "praises." Many are attributed to David, who started out as a shepherd boy and ended up as king; most are anonymous.
Two things worth saying out loud in class: Jesus quoted Psalms more than any other Old Testament book, and He quoted it from the cross. And the Psalms are startlingly honest — fear, loneliness, anger and doubt are all in there, right next to the praise. That's the reason they've lasted.
No rhyme, no meter. Instead the second line answers the first. Once you see it, you can't unsee it — and it makes the verses much easier to teach.
Psalm 19:1
Echo. The second line says the same thing in different words. Poets did this to make an idea land twice. When you teach it, ask: what does the second line add that the first one didn't?
Psalm 1:6
Contrast. The second line is the opposite of the first. Watch for the word but — it's the hinge. Psalm 1 is built entirely on this: two paths, two outcomes.
Psalm 27:1
Build. The second line takes the first one further — light becomes strength, fear becomes a second, sharper question. The repetition is the point; it's how the psalmist talks himself out of being afraid.
Tap one to see what it is and where it shows up in this week's reading.
Part 2 — The centerpiece
Six verses, 118 words, and probably the most famous poem ever written. If you teach one thing tomorrow, teach this. Tap each verse for what it meant to someone who actually kept sheep.
Tap a verse — 6 to open
Part 3 — Try it
Several psalms describe the Savior's death in detail, centuries before crucifixion existed as a practice. Match each psalm to the moment it describes. This doubles as a class activity — write the pairs on cards and let them do it.
Psalm 22 opens with the exact words the Savior spoke from the cross — He was quoting a song His listeners had memorized, one that ends in deliverance.
Part 4 — Choose your angle
You can't teach 24 chapters in 30 minutes, and you shouldn't try. Pick one of these, go deep, and let the rest go.
Part 5 — Straight from the source
Come, Follow Me gives five study ideas for this week. Here they are with the passages attached, so you can teach the manual instead of guessing at it. Anything you check below prints with your plan.
PSALMS 1; 23; 26–28; 46
The manual points out that the psalmists write about fear, sorrow and anxiety openly — and answers it with trust rather than pretending. As you read, it asks you to write down four things:
Then it turns to the imagery: what "green pastures" and "still waters" bring to mind, what the rod and staff might stand for, what a cup running over could mean.
Teaching moveFour columns on the whiteboard. Split the class into four groups, one column each, five minutes, then report. It's the manual's exercise with a job attached.
PSALMS 2; 22
The manual lists seven psalm-to-New-Testament pairs — the same ones in the match-up above — and notes that Christians in New Testament times saw these connections too. Its three questions:
Teaching moveThat second question is the sleeper. Everyone expects the fulfilled ones; asking what's still coming turns a history lesson into something about their future.
PSALMS 8; 19; 33
The manual's instruction here is unusually simple: read, and pay attention to how you feel while you do. Then sing or ponder a related hymn, and ask how the Lord's creations declare His glory to you. It also points to Elder Gérald Caussé's experience connected to Psalm 8 in "Love All; Love Each" (Liahona, May 2026), and asks what has led you to ponder God's relationship with us.
Teaching moveThe manual includes a box called "Use music," with President Oaks on hymns. If you sing something, don't treat it as filler before the real lesson — the manual treats it as the lesson.
PSALMS 19:7–11; 29
Key from the manual: in the Psalms, words like testimony, statutes, commandment and judgments all refer to the word of the Lord. Read 19:7–11 with that in mind, then Psalm 29 for what it teaches about His voice — thunder, cedars breaking, the wilderness shaking.
Teaching moveAsk it the way the manual does: in your experience, has the voice of the Lord actually matched those descriptions? Most people expect the still small voice. Psalm 29 is the other kind.
Seminary passage
PSALMS 24; 26–27
The manual explains that the temple at Jerusalem was built on a hill, so "the hill of the Lord" (24:3) can mean the temple or God's presence. It then asks what "clean hands, and a pure heart" means to you — and it names the risk out loud: hearing that you must be pure to enter God's presence can be discouraging when none of us are perfect. It sends you to Elder Bednar's "Clean Hands and a Pure Heart" and Brother Wilcox's "Worthiness Is Not Flawlessness," and asks how you'd use that to help someone overwhelmed by wanting to be perfect.
Teaching moveSomeone in your class is that person. Teach this half of the lesson to her.
Check any of these and they print in your plan with the citation.
| Psalm 23 | "The Lord Is My Shepherd" — 108 |
| Psalm 23:6; 150 | "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" — 72 |
| Psalm 26:8 | "We Love Thy House, O God" — 247 |
| Psalm 27:1 | "The Lord Is My Light" — 89 |
| Psalms 33:1–6; 95:1–6 | "For the Beauty of the Earth" — 92 |
| Psalm 37:3–9 | "Be Still, My Soul" — 124 |
| Psalm 148 | "All Creatures of Our God and King" — 62 |
| Psalms 8; 19; 33 | "How Great Thou Art" — 86 |
Full answers are in Scripture Helps — Old Testament. The week's outline is here.
Part 6 — Teach it
You're teaching people you sit next to every week. That's an advantage — you already know what they're carrying.
Teach people, not a lesson. Your job isn't to cover the material. It's to help one person feel something true about the Savior. If the discussion goes somewhere good, follow it.
Ask questions you don't know the answer to. "What does the shepherd do that a hired hand wouldn't?" beats "What is a shepherd?" Real questions get real answers.
Count to ten after you ask. Silence feels like death when you're the teacher. It isn't. It's people thinking. Don't rescue it.
Have them read out loud. Handing someone a verse gets them involved without putting them on the spot. Assign verses before you ask the question.
One short story of your own. Thirty seconds about a time you needed Psalm 46:10 will do more than five minutes of explanation. Specific beats impressive.
End with an invitation. Ask them to do one small thing this week — read Psalm 23 slowly, write their own four lines, listen to hymn 108. Then bear a short testimony and stop talking.
Check any you like — they'll drop into your plan at the bottom.
Part 7 — Build it
Pick your pieces on the left. The plan on the right builds itself and keeps track of your minutes. Everything saves in this browser, so you can close the page and come back.
0 of 30 minutes planned
Nothing picked yet. Start checking boxes and this fills in.