Verse Mapping

I am a visual person.

I learn better by looking at something than by just hearing it or reading about it.

Because of this, I like to write down passages of Scripture I am studying.

I also jot down what I’m seeing and learning as well as notes from resources and study books I am using..

i don’t have a particular way to do this.

Sometimes it’s a list.

Other times I spread it out and draw circles and balloons to write the information in.

 

The circles and balloons approach is called Verse Mapping.

It looks sorta like this:

 

I fill the boxes by including these kinds of things:

-Definitions of words in the verse

-Other verses that are similar or speak to the passage.

-What I see the verse saying

-How to apply what the passage is telling me

-Who wrote the passage and who it was written to

-Anything else relating to it that seems relevant.

 

Sometimes I also write a short prayer at the bottom, asking the Lord to help me apply what I am learning.

 

I’ve found that since I started writing out what I am reading and learning that I’m better able to remember what I’m studying.

I also am collecting the pages in a notebook to create a resource to look back on from time-to-time.

This is especially helpful when I am having a stressful day or when I am trying to remember something from a previous lesson I want to refer to in a current lesson or situation.

 

If you are new to bible study or to writing out what you are learning, it can sound overwhelming to do. Don’t let it be.

Just do what you can.

You might have to start with just the basics in the beginning and go deeper as time goes by.

That’s totally okay.

The more verses you map the more it will make sense and the easier it will get.

Really, though, it’s not about how good you get at verse mapping.

What matters is that you get in there and try to learn and get to better know the Scriptures..

 

Below is a list of places to look up information.

 

I hope you will give this a try and that it will be a help to you. .

I’d love to see your mappings.

Feel free to share them and to let me know how it goes.

As always, if you have questions, please feel free to reach out to me at any time.

 

 

Study Resources:

If you need help finding other verses that speak to the passage you are looking at, try this::

Look at the verses in the middle column of your bible. This is called the cross reference.

If your bible doesn’t have that feature, you can go online and look up the main word or idea in the verse and the phrase bible verses.

You will find various websites that have articles like, “Ten verses that talk about—” whatever subject you searched.

Some of these verses will expand on the ones you are studying.

You can do that for each word or verse in the passage you are studying.

 

You can also look the verse up in various Bible Study Books.

Here is a list of good resources to learn from:

Blue Letter Bible You can search by word or by verse.

This site also has several dictionaries and commentaries to help you better understand. Choose the study tab for a long list of resources.

 

Halley’s Bible Handbook gives a good basic overview of the Bible, what each book means, and how they work together. This link will take you to a page that has a video of the book as well as an option to download a free PDF of the entire book

 

Strong’s Concordance This will show you every time a particular word is used in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible.

It also has a place to look up a word to see the definition in the original Hebrew or Greek. This is a great way to better understand what the author really meant.

 

Nave’s Topical Bible Searching any particular word will show you all the information in the bible on that subject or person.

It is also available as a phone app. Get it for Android or for Iphone

Nave’s used to be called Nave’s Topical Index. Find the Index, which is a scaled-down, bare bones version of the Nave’s Bible by clicking here. The same information is included as in the Bible version, it’s just an older style website.

 

Torrey’s Topical Index is very similar to Nave’s but is arranged slightly differently. It shows all the times each subject or person is mentioned in the Bible.