Tools for Taking Notes in Your Bible

Over the past few weeks, there have been some who have asked about tips on taking notes in your Bible. This is a great thought, especially for those who purchase a new Bible. If you are beginning to take notes and highlight it is a pretty big commitment as you probably would like a system that you can use consistently. We will look at some tools in order to help in your note taking, as well as give a little guidance for writing in your Bible.

Tools to Consider

        There are several tools that you may want while writing in your Bible. You may want to start by purchasing a small ruler to go with your Bible (a Bible bag may also be preferred). You need this so that you can underline in a straight line (if you want to be particular). Some people may not care, but if you want things neat and you don’t have a steady hand, this is a must.

        The biggest consideration is what to use to write within your Bible. There are only a few things you should use to write in your Bible. For writing in particular there are several types of Bible pens that are on the market. The preferred pen of many (and mine as well) is varying colors of Micron pens (.005 works the best in my opinion). When you write with one of these it will not bleed through the page. If you use a regular pen it will bleed through to the other side and make it hard to read. Also, if you use a gel pen it does the same thing, but it will smudge because it may not be dry when you shut your Bible. Microns are the way to go (they can be purchased online and in art sections of major stores).

        When it comes to highlighting there are several options, but I have found 2 options to work really well. There are an abundance of good options in the realm of highlighting, but a good set of color pencils or a Pentel Crayon Pencil are my preferences. I specifically use the Pentel Crayon Pencil. It is what it sounds like, it is a mechanical pencil with different color options. These options do not bleed through the paper and have been a tried and true option for a long time.

Tips for Taking Notes

        So, how do you take notes in your Bible? First, there is no set way to do things. I have seen people use blue for verses about “baptism” and green for “Grace”, but the problem is that there are only so many passages with these color themes. I would urge you to figure out something that is more general in nature. I do not use a specific color all of the time, but I tend to use a color code per book of the Bible. I believe this makes it easier for taking notes.

        Example. Recently while studying Daniel I put a red box around the name of every new king (1:1, 21; 5:1, 31; 9:1; 10:1; 11:1). There are several leadership changes in the book and it makes it easier to understand what is going on when you know who is in charge. Just choose a color to use and use it consistently. Also, I tend to use green as my reference verses that I put out next to its relating verse. Black is typically used for making an outline or defining sections of thought. Blue I use to note something good and red I tend to use for something bad/negative. Whatever you do use the corresponding color that you underline with use the same color pen to note why you underlined it.

        I think I need to add something right here before getting started in actually putting pen to paper. You need to read through the book first to see what kind of patterns you might see. You might want to highlight verses that stick out, but make sure to keep things organized when starting to highlight/write in your Bible.

His servant and yours,

Matthew McBrayer