Wouldn’t it be great to not only read the Bible but to have a better understanding of it in an engaging (and creative) way?
You are confident that your life can be transformed by reading God’s Word, but let’s be honest…
We all need help better understanding what the scriptures mean.
You’ve probably read a dozen blog posts looking for an easy and effective method to read the Bible but it all seems a bit too much.
But, I learned a couple of years ago in my own journey of falling in love with God’s Word that it doesn’t have to be that way!
In this post, I will introduce you to a simple Bible color coding method that I used to enhance my daily Bible reading.
It is my hope that it will help you too! Let me show you how.
*This post contains affiliate links. Please read my Disclaimer page for more information.
But wait…Is it okay to highlight the Bible?
Great question! Asking if we should write in our Bibles demonstrates that you respect God’s Word and do not want to be irreverent.
I personally believe that if marking in your Bible helps you to become better acquainted with God through His Word, then it is okay.
However, I understand that color coding in your Bible is a personal decision.
But great news…
Whether you think coloring in your Bible is okay or not, there are a couple of options you can consider:
Have more than one Bible.
Use one of your Bibles for highlighting during your daily reading.
I personally use the She Reads Truth Bible for highlighting and marking my Bible but I also have an ESV Study Bible that I do not write in at all.
Use scripture journals instead of your Bible.
One the left of the page, you will find the scripture verses and on the right side, there is a blank page.
With this simple design, you can highlight, annotate, and even take notes right there!
Print out the scriptures for yourself.
Maybe you don’t want to write in your Bible but you want to get started today with a simple color coding system.
Watch the video below to see how you can print out the scriptures for yourself…
5 Steps to Color Coding Your Bible
Now that you have chosen whether you will use your Bible or printed out scriptures, we can move into how to actually implement a bible color coding system into your daily bible reading.
The following five steps will be easy for you to implement. In fact, you can even give it a try today.
Let’s get started…
#1 – Choose 3 or More Bible Color Code Categories
In order to use an easy bible color coding, I would suggest choosing between 3-5 categories that you want to focus on.
You can certainly choose more than five, but just remember…
The more categories that you have, the more tedious your color-coding can become.
You can always add more categories later.
If you need some suggestions for categories, consider the following:
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- God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, and any pronouns
- Keywords, repeated, and transition words
- Commands and examples of obeying God
- Anything important to you personally
Do you need help choosing your categories?
You can download my Bible marking guide that is included with my FREE Simplest Bible Reading plan.
#2 – Decide On The Colors You Want To Use
Now here comes the part where you get to bring a bit more of your style and personality to your color coding!
You can choose what color you want to assign to each category that you just chose.
If you are wondering, “What color highlighter is best for studying or reading?”, the answer is…
All of the colors are the best!
There is no right or wrong way to choose colors for highlighting categories in your Bible.
However, it might be helpful to assign colors that YOU may associate with each category.
For example, I use…
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- Purple for God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, and any pronouns because the color reminds me of royalty.
- Blue for keywords, repeated and transition words because it’s my favorite color and I enjoy digging deeper into the meaning of words in the Bible.
- Green for commands and examples of obeying God because it’s the color that reminds me to GO…to take action.
- Pink for anything important to me personally because pink and personal both begin with the letter “P”.
I know that the last one was crazy right, but there is no one way to do this.
You can make associations or not, it’s up to you to decide what you want to do here.
#3 – Gather Your Coloring Tools
Now, go get those Bible study highlighters, markers, colored pencils, colored pens, or whatever!
But I must warn you…
Some coloring tools may bleed through the pages of your Bible. Typically, the everyday highlighters you may use for work or school will bleed through with minimal see-through.
However, there are some pens that really can mess up your page and make it unreadable on the backside.
Ask me how I know. Lol.
So you want to know, “What are the best Bible highlighters?”.
I recommend the Zebra Pen Mildliner – Double Ended Highlighter & Pen for three reasons:
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- They do not bleed through the pages of my She Reads Truth Bible (which has thinner pages than most wide-margin Bibles).
- The colors are absolutely the most beautiful highlighters I’ve ever seen.
- Each pen is double-ended with a highlighter and matching pen.
I am interested to know what color tools you chose!
What do you use to highlight the Bible?
#4 – Create A Simple Bible Color Coding Key
Sis, you are almost there!
It’s time to make your color coding system “official”.
You need to have your Bible highlighting system front and center during your Bible reading.
This Bible color coding key will be there to remind you of the categories you want to pay attention to while reading, as well as the corresponding color you chose for each one.
When you first start out, it might be difficult to remember but as you use it more and more, you may find yourself not needing to reference it as much.
Here is an example of a simple 4 color bible highlighting system:
| Purple | God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, & pronouns |
| Blue | keywords, repeated & transition words |
| Green | commands & examples of obeying God |
| Pink | anything important to me personally |
#5 – Start Color Coding During Your Reading
We are at our last step and now, it’s time to put it all into practice!
All you need to do is begin reading your Bible and highlight it according to your color.
How do you highlight Bible verses?
To show you what I mean, let’s look at Psalm 16:8…
Purple → Names of the Lord
I always let the Lord guide me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Blue → Keywords
I always let the Lord guide me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Green → Commands & Obeying God
I always let the Lord guide me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Pink → Important to me
I always let the Lord guide me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Download A Free Simple Bible Color Coding Guide & More
Congratulations! You are now ready to enhance your daily Bible reading with a simple Bible Color Coding Guide.
This method of reading and observing various categories and themes is a great way to begin engaging with God’s Word.
If you are new to reading your Bible and need some additional tips on how to get started, be sure to check out my post on getting started with a simple Bible reading plan.
And download my FREE #1 Simplest Bible reading plan, that includes:
- A Bible reading tracker
- A Bible color coding guide
- A printable Bible journal page
You can use this Bible reading plan with your color coding guide to begin meeting with God in His Word daily.
Related Post: An Encounter With God Every Day: A Simple Guide To Daily Bible Reading
What categories and colors are you using for your bible marking system? I would love to hear about it in the comments!
XOXO,
Thanks! This is a simple and practical way to develop a color coding system to use when Bible reading. I was trying to use different symbols and underlining with pen, but it ended up looking messy.