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Right now I’m reading the Bible in 180 days, with hopes of gaining a grand overview of God’s redemptive story so it can inform my closer study for the rest of the year.
With this fast-paced plan it can be hard to soak truth in, but I’ve been utilizing a highlighting system to keep track of key verses in the Old Testament. In this way I’m creating a quick reference index across my Bible, and it allows me to go back and spot sections of particular insight and importance.
I also just love how highlighting makes words pop on the page, and helps stick them in my memory.
My Method
I use a highlighter set from Daily Grace Co., and each color codes for a main theme. As I’m reading I use the colors to keep track of who God is, what man does, and other significant pieces like prophecies, commands, and prayer.
These colors give me different lenses for observing the passage, as I use other resources and am led by the Spirit. I’ll highlight as I read, or after the fact once I have a clear understanding of the passage.
There’s no particular reason why I put one color with one theme, so you can adjust this according to your preference.
Also keep in mind that sometimes the colors overlap. Often I pick the one I think codes best, but also place a mark of the other fitting colors next to the passage to show them all.
This is my current system for the Old Testament:
Pink: Attributes of God, When God Speaks
This is by far my most used highlighter! By tracing where God is mentioned, I am able to draw conclusions about His character and His promises. Often His attributes are not obviously stated (i.e. God is faithful) but they come alive between the lines as God declares His loyalty to His chosen people and guides them along their respective journeys.
Example highlighted verse: “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Genesis 12:1-2
Whether highlighting or not, seeing and worshiping God’s attributes is my main mission when I study the Old Testament.
[To learn more about what they are, consider going through my 30 day devotional Adoring His Attributes.]
Green: Prophecies About Christ, Gospel Symbolism
In the next verse after the passage above God says: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:3
As the Apostle Paul later explains in Romans and elsewhere, this particular promise signifies that Jesus will descend from Abraham’s family, but provide salvation to the whole world. This is a prophecy.
I also highlighted these verses green: “He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you…
He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” Genesis 22:2, 12
Through this test of faith for Abraham, God foreshadowed what He would someday do – willingly offer up His own beloved Son to save the world.
Orange: Depravity of Man, Sin
I use orange to highlight moments where man’s sinfulness is on display. This reminds me of our need for our Savior Jesus, and also allows me to recognize sins I may need confess.
Example:
“But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” Genesis 19:26
This verse shows the consequences of ignoring God’s command (Genesis 19:17), and perhaps the cost of treasuring worldly things rather than keeping your eyes on the Lord’s path.
Yellow: Noteworthy Faith
Oppositely, I use yellow to pull out examples of faith, when men and women perform noble acts, make obedient decisions, showcase Christlike character, or give praises to God that I wish to emulate.
You may identify clear illustrations of faith, like when Abraham follows God’s call, but don’t forget to search for more subtle gems, like seeing Rebekah’s hard-working, hospitable spirit:
“She said, “Drink, my lord.” And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels.” Genesis 24:18-20
Purple: Templates for Prayer
One of the best way to inspire your prayer life is to see what other faithful saints have said before you. I’m using highlighting to track passages with lines I too would love to adapt and pray to God!
Example:
“The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord and said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.’” Genesis 24:26-27
Blue: God’s Commands + Wisdom
Last but for sure not least, I note what God directs His people and how. This includes literal rules of His law, but also could be phrases that could lead to application in your life. This will be very helpful for the New Testament, but also comes up regularly as God addresses the Israelites across their history. In places like Leviticus, you may just want to highlight ones that challenge your thinking or bring Christ to mind.
For a book like Proverbs, which is all wisdom, you may wish to make a unique system. For example, you could assign colors to proverbs about family, money, foolish versus wise behavior, etc.
Example: God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.” Genesis 35:1-2
Want to get started?
You can buy highlighters anywhere, but I HIGHLY recommend these wax-based highlighters from Daily Grace Co. because they are specifically designed to not bleed through thin Bible pages. They also have sweet inscriptions on the side that remind you of God’s love.
Also complement your highlighting with my Old Testament Bible Study Worksheet, available in my subscriber FREEBIE Library.
It helps you answer the main questions about a passage in order to grasp its full meaning and application.
Beautiful work, Dani! Those markers look great and to have such sweet inscriptions on them make for a ‘must have’ set!
I wonder though, after marking your Bible in this manner, would you use the same Bible for studying inductively? I’m trying to balance the two systems in my mind.
Thank you Cindy! Having this system has been a blessing, and I hope it helps others! I guess it depends on your inductive study method, but I do only highlight in one of my Bibles and not all. 🙂
I am into highlighters 🙂 Need a pen or a highlighter when I am reading God’s Word.
I love the worksheet in particular. Will print out for my study
Blessings
Me too – as you can see hahah! It’s so hard not to write the blessed truths down! Hope the worksheet is helpful! Blessings, friend 🙂
I love this system!!! I can’t believe this never occurred to me before! I am going to get some highlighters this weekend! I don’t get to dig in to Scripture the way I always want to with my 2 littles, but this definitely takes me a bit deeper than I’ve been studying lately! Thanks so, so much, Dani!
Awesome! I hope and pray it helps you see His glory all the more! I have a little one too and this definitely helps to focus and grab truths in the smaller chunks of time.
Love your blog! I just started a new blog called Living for Jesus Christ . It is a blog to help young adults and teens who don’t know God. Me and a couple of other teen girls our apart of this blog.
Thanks Naomi! That’s wonderful that you’re seeking to minister to other young women. I’ll be praying that you can share the hope of Christ with hurting and curious teens.
I can’t tell you how much I LOVE this and need this in my life right now! I just started learning how to inductively study the Bible and I tried to create a little code, but I love yours so much better than mine! I’m definitely going to borrow your idea! Thanks so much for this helpful post!!
Great Kaitlin! It find it so helpful and hope it blesses your study too. There’s nothing like pulling out the riches of His Word!
I have a set of highlighters and just use what I like at the moment. I might have to give this a go. I will download the printed guide from your library. Thank you! 🙂
Cool – I hope it helps you love His Word and glean its truth all the more! 🙂
I’ve always been intrigued by this method but hesitate to highlight before of the bleeding through problem. I’ll definitely need to check out those highlighters!
Yes, I felt that way too but these highlighters are great! They bleed a tiny bit, but definitely not like regular highlighters because of their gel, not inky tips.
This has helped tremendously I have used highlighters before but never in this manner I believe this will help me dig deeper.
Sweet, Lashawn! Praying you learn more and more of the riches of God’s Word!
Hi Dani, I just ordered some Bible highlighters last month. And..they are sitting getting dusty because I didn’t know “what” to do with them exactly. Love your ideas, thank you!
Cool Christa! I hope this helps, especially with the Old Testament! 🙂 Thanks for visiting!
I love this idea, but I’m confused on the blue. I’m having a difficult time knowing the difference between doing blue or pink? I would have highlighted the blue example pink?
Hi Arminda! Thanks for asking! I probably could have used a better verse example for that one. For blue I try to find phrases that could be direct action steps for living out the faith – sometimes they are literal commands from God, other times they are principles that I can apply. Also, sometimes a verse could be highlighted multiple colors, so I highlight it in one and then put a color mark of the second or third. For pink I usually highlight verses that really display God’s character or heart. His commands definitely are included in that, but I look for lines that show His compassion, mercy, righteousness, etc, His specific attributes. I hope that makes sense! 🙂
I love your idea for the different color high lighters. I have been a Christian since I was 9 (now 36) and am a Bible college grad. I love studying the Bible. This looks like a great way to study the Bible for a fresh vision! Your chart says it’s great for the Old Testament. Do you have any suggestions when studying the New Testament? Thanks!
I really love your idea with the color coding, I write in my Bible when I follow along in Church with my notes and dates in the margins. Even when I hear a particular sermon on tv that speaks to me and my situation. When I reflect back in my Bible I always enjoy the memory from the days of writing them! I am gladly enjoy putting these to good use, as well as sharing with my daughters. Thank you for sharing!
I love this color-coding method for OT and implemented it today reading Judges and had greater understanding. So thank you!
I am curious what you do for color-coding when reading NT books? If you have a blog post about this one please share! Thank you!
This is lovely, thank you! I used a system similar to this years ago but it was much more centered around me, not around who God is. Glory be to God that He has nurtured me and has slowly changed my heart and mind. This system is much better! Thanks again!
Loved this Color System! I have one of my own that I’ve used for decades, but I have learned from you much better ways to Highlight my Bible, “NASB”, to add to my use of “The Hebrew – Greek Key Word Study Bible” with all the Bible Study Helps: NT Grammatical Codes, Notations, Concordance, Hebrew & Greek Dictionaries.
I would love to win the I Am Bible Study that you mentioned in your email. You said you were giving 3 away and to enter in this blog.
What a wonderful resource to help me fine tune my Bible study skills! Perfect for those looking for a good place to start too!
God is on the throne…no matter who wins the gold or becomes president of these United States…He is in control. Only He knows the outcome as we travel…but we know the end of the story as foretold in Revelations. Amen.
Hi Dani, thank you for this blog post! I still visit it over the years and most recently shared it with a sister overseas who asked me how to mark up her Bible. I immediately thought of your system since I’ve benefited from it so much. 🙂
I’d love to have the “I AM” study from DG, or any of the three. 🙂
I AM hoping I win. I AM excited and hoping I do. I AM praying on it.
Thank you.
I am commenting on your recent newsletter for a chance to win one of three studies from The Daily Grace Co. Sacred Suffering from the book of Job, is a study I feel I can benefit from not only for my personal walk through sufferings in this life but to know how to suffer well so that I can also encourage others walking through difficult times.
Your recent email took me here to this blog post.
The words you wrote about Boaz and Esther are encouraging… Reminding us that God has the plan and it is under his control. We do not know his ways but his ways are good according to his purposes.
I would love to win:
Free From Shame: How the Gospel Redeems our Past and Pain
These are words to dwell on today: it shall go safely on in God’s predestined way. Christ will not fail nor be discouraged. . .
Thank you!
Please enter me to win:
Free From Shame: How the Gospel Redeems our Past and Pain
I greet you in the Wonderful name of Jesus, I would really love to win these markers, I want to start my active bible reading and practice the ideas you have just shared.