How it works
- Start from a system. Pick one of four small systems that people actually keep, or start blank.
- Name your colors. Give each color one meaning, in a few words. Leave a color empty to keep it off the key.
- Print the key. Print it as a bookmark for the front of your Bible, or copy the link to share the same key with a study group.
Start with the question, not the colors
Before choosing colors, decide what you want to be able to find later. Finish the sentence "When I flip back through this Bible in five years, I want to find…" and let the answer pick the system. Someone praying through Scripture's promises needs a different key from someone tracing what the Bible says about God's character.
Four systems that hold up
- What the verse does. Four colors: something true about God, a promise, something to do, a warning. The easiest to keep, because the grammar usually tells you.
- Classic themes, capped at six. Topics, but no more than you can hold in your head. Everything else goes uncolored or gets a pen note.
- One highlighter and a pen. Highlight what strikes you, underline what you want to come back to, and write a word in the margin when you know why.
- A color for each read-through. This year's reading in one color, next year's in another, so the pages show what stood out each time.
How to color code your Bible walks through each one with a worked example from Romans 8, and why the big twelve-color systems tend to be abandoned.
Questions
How many colors should a Bible color code have?
Four to six. Past about six, most people check the key before every mark, and after a few weeks they stop. A smaller key, built around one question you ask of the text, is the one that lasts.
Which highlighter colors work best on Bible paper?
Pale ones. Yellow, light green, light blue and pink leave the text readable and show through thin pages least. Test every color on a page at the back before you start.
What if a verse fits two colors?
Color it for the one you would go looking for it by. If that keeps happening with the same two categories, merge them.
Is anything I type saved or sent?
No. The key is made in your browser. If you copy the link, your color names are in that link, so only share it with people you want to have them.