How I Mark My Bible

　　Do you have a system for marking your Bible as you study?Over the years, I've found that if I want to layer reading upon reading and godeeper each time, it helps me to mark my Bible and build on my earlier studynotes.

　　As I read the Bible, I try to make note of repeated words,resumed themes, quotations of earlier passages, and other key ideas. But Idon't want simply to see them and move on. I want to highlight them. This helpsme recall connections I've seen, and helps me find those key ideas later. WheneverI want an uninfluenced, fresh reading of a Bible passage, I use an unmarkedcopy.

　　I try to read large chunks of Bible all at one sitting,whole books if possible, and thoroughly mark them up as I go. Doing this bookafter book brings out the interconnectedness of individual books and the thickintertextuality of each book of the Bible with all the others.

　　So, here's what I like to do when marking my Bible. I use amechanical pencil, a set of colored pens, colored pencils, and occasionally ahighlighter to note things. As I've done this over the years, I've developed acolor code for key ideas:

　　Orange = references toGod's glory or name

　　Green = references toearlier Scripture, whether quotations or otherwise

　　Purple = references toroyalty/kingship/the coming Messiah

　　Red = anythingnotable, but particularly the actions the Lordhimself does

　　Blue = references tofaith, believing, piety, etc.

　　Pink = knowing orfearing God/the Lord

　　Yellow (coloredpencil) = anything notable, repeated words in the passage, etc.

　　Brown (colored pencil)= references to times or dates

　　Mechanical Pencil =notes in the margin, underlines, connecting lines, etc.

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　　Those are the constants. Somecolors vary from book to book, but these are pretty standard throughout. Forinstance, I recently re-read Proverbs all at one sitting with the intention ofnoting everything the book says about raising children. I marked all thosereferences with a lime green color, and all the references to the "path" of therighteous or to the "ways" of a man with an aqua green color. And sinceProverbs has a few unique "headings" (Proverbs 1:1; Proverbs 10:1; Proverbs 22:17; Proverbs 24:23; Proverbs 25:1; Proverbs 30:1; Proverbs 31:1) I used ahighlighter to mark those. Bible pages tend to be thin, so I try to keep ahighlighter that is almost used up to reduce the bleed-through effect.

　　Here's a photo of a passage before I studied and marked it. Notice that the marked-up passage in the column on the far left ends at Jeremiah 25:14. That's where my last sermon on Jeremiah ended. I took this photo right before I began to study Jeremiah 25:15-38, which was the next sermon in my preaching series. Jeremiah 25:15-38 begins at the bottom of the far left column and continues through the two columns in the middle.

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　　As I worked through the passage, I underlined all the places where Jeremiah has something like "Thus says the Lord" in green colored pencil (see Jeremiah 25:15, Jeremiah 25:27, Jeremiah 25:29, Jeremiah 25:31, Jeremiah 25:32). (I had already underlined Jeremiah 26:1 in brown colored pencil because it has a statement about when Jeremiah got this word, and the green colored pencil is there because of the reference to the way the word came from the Lord.)

　　As I read and re-read the passage, I noticed that in both 25:16and 27 Jeremiah is told to command the nations to "drink . . . because of thesword that I [Yahweh] am sending among you," so I underlined the matchingphrases in the two verses with an aqua green colored pencil.

　　Cities and nations are listed out in Jeremiah 25:18-26, withsome comments on each. So I underlined each city or nation mentioned in yellowcolored pencil.

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　　Jerusalem was to be a city that reflected Yahweh's glory, from which his glory radiated outward, so I underlined the reference in Jeremiah 25:29 to "the city that is called by my name" in orange pen.

　　In Jeremiah 25:30 the Lord twice roars like a lion, and I've circled those in mechanical pencil, drawing a line from that verse to 25:38, where similar imagery is used, and noting that Yahweh also roars like a lion in Amos 1:2, Joel 3:16, and Hosea 5:14.

　　I have also noted next to Jeremiah 25:33 places where Jeremiah says similar things at 16:4 and 8:2.

　　Then in Jeremiah 25:34-36 there are several references to the "shepherds" who are the "lords of the flock," and these are underlined in jade green colored pencil. The two calls for these wicked leaders of Israel to "wail" are underlined with a mechanical pencil, with a line connecting them. Here's a photo of the page I've been describing:

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　　I've marked up several copies of the Bible this way. When I teach, I want to have a copy of the Bible in front of me that has everything that I will have a faint memory of clearly marked so that I can find it (relatively) quickly. When I'm asked a question, and I know I read about that somewhere around Luke 12, I go to Luke 12 and can find what it was I had in mind because I usually remember, however faintly, what I've marked.

　　Obviously you don't have to mark your Bible exactly the wayI do, but perhaps seeing this method will spur your own thinking and help withyour own study.

　　Mark well what you read, and may the Word of Christ dwell inyou richly! (Colossians 3:16)

　　(Article first published on August 5, 2012)

　　Further Reading:

　　10 Things You Should Know about Studying the Bible

　　Read the Bible In a Year

　　25 Bible Study Books and Resources for Beginners

　　Bible Verses by Topic

　　4 Solid Tips for Getting Started with Bible Study

　　Bible Studies for Women to Grow Spiritually

　　3 Fresh Ways to Study Your Bible

　　Crosswalk.com Bible Study Articles Archives

　　8 Tips for Studying God's Word