Start here · The Owner's Manual

How to Use This Bible

Read This First. Seriously.

Nobody reads the owner's manual. That is how people end up with a bookshelf built upside down and three screws left over.

This Bible is full of colors, red letters, brackets and little notes. Every one of them means something. If you skip this section, it will look like a coloring book exploded.

Give me five minutes. By the end, you will know what every color means, how to find a prophecy and where it was fulfilled, and how to check our work. No Bible college required. I didn't finish it either.

Idiot Proof: The Three Things You Must Know

In a hurry? Learn these three and you can start reading today.

1. Colors mean something. A highlighted verse is not decoration. Lime green means a prophecy about Jesus. Blue means the end times. Every color is explained below, and the bottom of each page shows only the colors used on that page.
2. Red letters mean God is talking. In the Old Testament the label says GOD SPEAKING. In the New Testament it says JESUS SPEAKING. When the coming Messiah speaks in the Old Testament, it says MESSIAH SPEAKING. When a prophet or anyone else quotes what God said, God's words are red too.
3. Brackets mean "not in the oldest copies." Words in [square brackets] are missing from the earliest handwritten copies we have. We kept them so you can see them, and we told you so you can decide.

That's it. Everything else in this section just makes you better at those three.

Anatomy of a Page

Here is every part of a page, top to bottom. In the printed Bible, this section shows a real page from Isaiah with a line pointing to each part.

If you forget what a color means, look down. The answer is at the bottom of the page you are already on.

The Color Key

There are two families of colors. Prophecy colors show predictions and where they were fulfilled. Reference colors show everything else worth noticing. A light, pastel color means a foreshadow. Before you meet the colors, you need to know what that is.

What's a Foreshadow?

A prophecy says it straight. A foreshadow doesn't spell it out. It's a picture that points ahead.

Some people would call a foreshadow a vague prophecy. Fair enough. It is softer evidence than a prediction with names and places. That's exactly why foreshadows get the lighter, pastel colors. We would rather undersell than oversell.

Here's the best example in the whole Bible: the lamb with no blemish.

The picture starts early. In Genesis 4:4, Abel brings the firstborn of his flock, the best he had, and God accepts it. After the flood, Noah offers clean animals on the altar in Genesis 8:20. In Genesis 22:8, Abraham tells his son Isaac that God Himself will provide the lamb. None of those use the words "no blemish" yet. They just set the table.

Then God makes it a rule, and He repeats it over and over:

• Exodus 12:5. The Passover lamb must be a year old male with no blemish. Its blood on the doorframe makes death pass over the house.
• Leviticus 1:10. A burnt offering from the flock must be a male with no defect.
• Leviticus 3:6 to 7. A lamb for a peace offering must have no defect.
• Leviticus 4:32. A lamb for a sin offering must be a female with no defect.
• Leviticus 9:3. A year old lamb with no blemish on the day the priests start their work.
• Leviticus 14:10. Two male lambs and a female lamb with no defect when a person healed of a skin disease is declared clean.
• Leviticus 22:19 to 21. Any animal with a defect will not be accepted. Period.
• Leviticus 23:12. A lamb with no defect on the day of First Fruits.
• Leviticus 23:18. Seven lambs with no defect at the Feast of Weeks, later called Pentecost.
• Numbers 6:14. Lambs with no defect when a Nazirite finishes his vow.
• Numbers 28:3 to 4. Two lambs with no defect every single day, one in the morning and one at twilight.
• Numbers 28 and 29. More lambs with no defect every Sabbath, every new moon and every feast of the year.
• Deuteronomy 17:1. Never sacrifice an animal with a defect.
• Ezekiel 46:4 to 13. Ezekiel's vision of a future temple still has lambs with no blemish.
• Malachi 1:8. God scolds the priests for offering blind, lame and sick animals. Try giving that to your governor, He says.

That's hundreds of years of the same instruction. The best lamb. No blemish. Blood that covers. Nobody in those chapters says the name Jesus.

Why a Lamb Was a Big Deal

To us, a lamb is something at the petting zoo. To Abraham, a lamb was money.

There was no cash back then. Coins weren't invented until the late 600s BC, long after Abraham, in a kingdom called Lydia in what is now Turkey. Gold and silver did exist and they did matter. Genesis 13:2 says Abraham was rich in livestock, silver and gold. In Genesis 23, he buys a burial field by weighing out 400 shekels of silver. A shekel was a weight, not a coin. You didn't bring a wallet. You brought a scale.

But for a herdsman, the herd was the bank account. Your flock fed you, clothed you, and kept growing. Silver just sat in a bag. A healthy ewe made more sheep. Even the English word pecuniary, which means having to do with money, comes from the Latin word for cattle.

There was no 30 year mortgage either. People did borrow, and the laws of Hammurabi, written around 1750 BC, set rules for debts. But if you couldn't pay, you didn't get a late fee. You could lose your land. Your kids could be taken to work off the debt. So could you. Land didn't quietly build your wealth the way a house does today. Your animals did.

So when God said to bring your best lamb, the one with no blemish, He wasn't asking for a tip. He was asking for the best thing you owned.

Think of It This Way

Meet Bill. Bill collects cars. His garage has a Lamborghini, two Ferraris, a couple of Porsches, and a Tesla he drives to the grocery store. But his baby is the McLaren. He washes it by hand. Nobody else is allowed to touch it.

Now God shows up and says, "Bill, you sinned. Sin costs something. And I want to see that you love Me more than your stuff. Take the McLaren. Not the Tesla. Not the Porsche with the door ding. The McLaren. Drive it to the edge of the Grand Canyon, set the cruise control, jump out, and watch it go over."

That is what a lamb with no blemish meant. Not your leftovers. Not the sick one. The one that hurts to give up. That's why God was so angry in Malachi 1:8 when people brought blind and lame animals. That's like Bill driving his rusted out riding mower off the cliff and calling it worship.

And here's the catch. Bill has to do it again next year. And the year after that. Every morning and every evening, a lamb went on the altar, because animal blood could never finish the job. Hebrews 10:4 says it straight: it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Then the New Testament shows up. Isaiah 53:7 had already said the Servant would be led like a lamb to the slaughter. In John 1:29, John the Baptist sees Jesus coming and says, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" In 1 Corinthians 5:7, Paul calls Him our Passover lamb. In Hebrews 9:14, He offers Himself to God without blemish. In 1 Peter 1:19, Peter says we were bought with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot. Jesus dies at Passover. And Revelation calls Him the Lamb more than 25 times.

Then God Took His Turn

Remember Abraham? In Genesis 22:2, God told him to take his son, his only son, the son he loved, up a mountain and offer him. Abraham went. At the last second, God stopped him and provided a ram instead.

God never let Abraham go through with it. Roughly two thousand years later, on a hill in that same region, God went through with it Himself.

He didn't send His best lamb. He sent His one and only Son. If a lamb was your McLaren, this was God giving up the one thing He had only one of. John 3:16 says God so loved the world that He gave Him.

And this sacrifice was one and done. Hebrews 10:10 says we are made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. No more lambs. No more cliffs. The real Lamb finally showed up, so the previews could stop.

So here's the deal God offers. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. A wage is something you earn. A gift is something you accept. Ephesians 2:8 to 9 says you are saved by grace through faith, not by your own works, so nobody gets to brag.

You can't pay for this one. You don't own a car nice enough. All that's left to do is say yes.

One lamb is a coincidence. A lamb from Genesis to Revelation is a pattern. That's a foreshadow. It's never spelled out in black and white, but it repeats until it's hard to miss.

Prophecy Colors

Lime Green: Jesus Fulfilled It. A prophecy about the Messiah that Jesus fulfilled. Isaiah 53:3 calls Him a man of sorrows, and Mark 14:33 to 34 shows it in Gethsemane. Written centuries early, with details. Try getting your weatherman to do that for next Tuesday.

Pastel Green: The Trailer. A foreshadow of Jesus, like the Passover lamb. It's the movie trailer. You don't get the whole plot, but when the movie comes out, you go, "Oh, that's what that was."

Orange: Called It. A prophecy about something besides the Messiah, fulfilled later inside the Bible. A king, a city, a nation. God called it, it happened, and the Bible kept the receipts.

Pastel Orange: History Rhymes. A foreshadow about something besides the Messiah. A pattern that shows up early and repeats later. History rhymes, and God writes the rhymes.

Purple: The Historians Agree. A prophecy that was fulfilled outside the Bible, in recorded history. The people who wrote it down usually weren't trying to help us out, which makes it even better.

Pastel Purple: Between the Testaments. A prophecy fulfilled in the books between the Testaments, mostly 1 and 2 Maccabees. Spoiler: Antiochus does not get a happy ending.

Blue: Not Yet. The end times, still waiting to be fulfilled, like Philippians 2:10 to 11 where every knee will bow. This is the only color where you're still waiting. Keep your lamp trimmed.

Reference Colors

Pink: The Heart. Motives, intentions, and what you did with what you knew, like Romans 10:9 to 10, believe in your heart. God doesn't grade on outfits or church attendance. He reads the heart. This is the color that will convict you at 2 a.m.

Sand: Dig It. Archaeology, something real that was dug up. Romans 16:23 names Erastus, and a stone in Corinth names an Erastus too. Many think it's the same man. Hard to call the Bible a fairy tale when a shovel keeps finding its people.

Teal: The Supernatural. Miracles, angels and things that break physics, like 1 Peter 1:12, things even angels long to look into. Walking on water, a talking donkey, angels with swords. If you think the Bible is boring, you haven't hit Teal yet.

Gray: The Dark Side. Demons, deliverance, idols, witchcraft, the occult, giants and curses. The page chip says DEMONIC. Romans 11:4 remembers the people who refused to bow to Baal. Yes, your horoscope app is in this category. We color it so you know what you're looking at, not so you can try it at home.

Yellow: The Greatest Hits. Famous passages and favorite sermon texts, like Philippians 4:11 to 13, the secret of being content. If your pastor has preached it three times this year, it's probably Yellow.

Not Colors, But Still Important

Red letters: God talking. God, Jesus or the Messiah speaking, and God's words when anyone quotes Him, already printed for you. When the red starts, put the phone down.

Red underline: The family tree. A name in the family line of Jesus. It includes a prostitute, a foreigner, an adulterer and a few men who really should have known better. God works with what He's got. That should encourage you.

[Square brackets]: Timeout corner. Words missing from the oldest copies. We didn't delete them. We just put them in the timeout corner so you can decide.

Italics: Jesus Quoting His Bible. When the New Testament quotes the Old Testament, the quoted words are printed in italics, like Matthew 4:4 quoting Deuteronomy 8:3. The Old Testament verse it came from is in italics too. Italics mean the actual words are quoted, or very close. When the New Testament only refers to an Old Testament story without quoting it, like Jude 5 pointing back to Numbers 14, there are no italics, just a note that says ALLUDES TO. Italics are not a color, so they can sit right on top of one. A prophecy that Jesus quotes stays lime green and turns italic. Jesus didn't have chapter and verse numbers. Those came over a thousand years later. He just knew it.

There is no color for "verses Nate likes." Every colored verse earned its spot, and its note tells you why.

Study Note Colors

The highlights tell you what a verse is about. The study notes have colors too, so you know what kind of note you're about to read before you read a word.

The longer notes sit in a shaded box right after the verse they explain. That means the Big Questions, the Field Notes and the From History boxes. Each box has a light background color. These colors are not the highlight colors, and they mean different things. You don't need to memorize them. The table is here when you want it.

Red wins. If a note fits two colors and people disagree about it, the box is red. Think of red as a warning light, not a stop sign. It means slow down: good Christians land in different places here, and you'll see every view laid out fairly. A red box also has a small DEBATED tag at the top, so you can spot it even in a black and white copy.

The biggest finds get a whole page. A few Field Notes are so important that they get a full page of their own, with a bigger photo and more of the story.

The Rules of the Road

Some verses fit two categories. A real highlighter can only do one color, so we made rules. Here they are.

1. One verse, one color. No stripes, no rainbows. If you are highlighting your own copy, this keeps it readable. Italics don't count as a color, so an Old Testament quote can be italic and still wear its one color.
2. Prophecy always wins. If a verse is a prophecy and something else, it gets the prophecy color. Fulfilled predictions are the strongest thing in this Bible, so they get top billing.
3. After prophecy, the order is Pink, Sand, Teal, Gray, then Yellow. The color higher on the list wins. One small exception: Sand beats a prophecy that is not about the Messiah, so a few archaeology verses keep their Sand color.
4. Nothing gets lost. When a verse loses a tie, its note says so. A split note reads something like "This verse also belongs in Teal" and tells you why.
5. We tell you how sure we are. Notes on prophecies and finds carry a rating. HIGH means the evidence is strong. MEDIUM means it is a good case but people disagree. LOW means only some Christians read it that way. We would rather be honest than impressive.

Red Letters

Most red letter Bibles only print Jesus in red, and only in the New Testament. That always bugged me. God was talking long before Matthew.

So in this Bible, red letters run through both testaments.

Anyone quoting God counts. When a prophet, Moses, a king, the people or the writer of the book repeats what God actually said, God's words turn red. The speaker's own words stay black. In 1 Chronicles 22:8, David tells Solomon what God told him: "You have shed much blood." Those are God's words, so they're red. David's words around them stay black.

What turns red:

• God speaking, in either testament, including the Father's voice from heaven.
• Jesus speaking.
• The Messiah speaking in the Old Testament.
• The angel of Yahweh and the Commander of Yahweh's army. Some think he was an angel God sent, and others think he was God Himself. A note gives both views.
• Anyone quoting what God actually said: a prophet passing on His message, Moses retelling it, a king or the people repeating His promise, or the writer quoting His law.
• God's lines inside a song, a poem or a vision, like "Do not touch My anointed ones!" in 1 Chronicles 16:22. Only His lines turn red, not the whole poem.
• God speaking to an angel, like "Enough! Withdraw your hand now!" in 2 Samuel 24:16.

What stays black:

• The messenger's words, like "This is what Yahweh says" and "declares Yahweh." That's the prophet talking, not God.
• A prophet's own words after God's message ends.
• A verse that only tells you God or an angel spoke, without quoting the words.
• Anyone claiming God said something the Bible never records, false prophets, lying spirits and the dead. When Samuel speaks at Endor in 1 Samuel 28, it stays black.

Red letters are already printed. If you have the blank edition, you never need to mark them.

Brackets and Footnotes

In this Bible, square brackets mean one thing: these words are not in the oldest copies.

Watch out if you came from another Bible. Some study Bibles use brackets for extra explanation. Others use them for cross references. Ours don't. If you see [brackets] in the Bible text, it means the earliest handwritten copies we have do not include those words.

Why keep them at all? Because many Christians grew up with these verses, and some of them have been read in church for over a thousand years. Cutting them would hide the question. Brackets show you the question and let you decide.

You'll see brackets around a few famous passages, like the ending of Mark and the woman caught in adultery in John 8. A TEXT note explains what the oldest copies say. We never say "the best manuscripts" or tell you what to think. We just tell you what is there.

Smaller differences between copies don't get brackets. They get a short TEXT note under the verse instead.

If brackets ever mean something different in a special spot, a note right there will tell you.

Try It: The Prophecy You Probably Skipped

Let's walk through one together. Turn to Isaiah 53.

Most people read right past this chapter. It sounds like old poetry about somebody sad. Now look at the page. Verse after verse is lime green. That means prophecy about the Messiah.

Step 1. Read the verse. Isaiah 53:3 says He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, familiar with grief.

Step 2. Read the note under it. The note names where this was fulfilled, with short references like Mk 14:33.

Step 3. Follow it. Turn to Mark 14:33 to 34. Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane, deeply distressed, telling His friends His soul is overwhelmed with sorrow. That verse is lime green too. Its note says FULFILLS and points back to Isaiah 53.

Step 4. Do it again. Isaiah 53:7 says He was led like a lamb and did not open His mouth. Its note sends you to 1 Peter 2:23, where Peter says Jesus did not threaten back when He suffered.

Here's the part that should give you chills. Isaiah lived about 700 years before Jesus. And we are not just trusting that date. A complete copy of Isaiah, the Great Isaiah Scroll, was found with the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was copied around 125 BC. Isaiah 53 is in it, written down before Jesus was born.

That is how every prophecy in this Bible works. The prophecy points forward. The fulfillment points back. You can walk it in either direction.

Try It: Jesus Quoting His Bible

Jesus quoted the Old Testament all the time. Most readers never notice, because nothing in a normal Bible tells them. In this one, italics tell them.

Turn to Matthew 4. Jesus has gone 40 days without food, and the devil shows up to tempt Him three times. Jesus answers all three with Scripture.

1. "Man shall not live on bread alone." That's Deuteronomy 8:3.
2. "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." That's Deuteronomy 6:16.
3. "Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only." That's Deuteronomy 6:13.

Each answer is printed in italics, and so is the verse in Deuteronomy it came from. Flip back and read them in their home chapters. Moses was talking to Israel after 40 years in the wilderness, where they failed the same tests. Jesus walks into His own wilderness and passes every one. You only see that if you know He is quoting.

Now try Matthew 27:46. On the cross Jesus cries, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" That's Psalm 22:1. This verse is italic, because Jesus is quoting. It is also lime green, because Psalm 22 does not just get quoted. It describes the crucifixion, and the rest of the psalm keeps lining up, right down to the soldiers gambling for His clothes in verse 18.

One verse, two signals: the color says prophecy, and the italics say quote. So when you see italics, ask one question. Where did this come from? Then go read the original. It usually changes what the verse means.

Everything Else You'll Run Into

Colors are the big thing, but they're not the only thing. Here's the rest of the toolbox.

The Big Questions matter most to me. Good Christians land in different places on some things. You deserve to see every side laid out fairly, then make up your own mind. That's what a Berean does.

The Highlighting Guides

This Bible comes two ways. The highlighted edition has every color already printed. The blank edition leaves the colors to you. Either way, the two free guides are your map.

The two guides are free PDFs at bibletechsupport.com:

• The Complete Prophecy Database. More than 1,000 prophecies, each with its color, where it was fulfilled, and how sure we are.
• The Bible Reference Index. About 2,000 more highlights: The Heart, archaeology, miracles, the demonic, the Old Testament quoted in the New, and notable passages.

Each guide opens with the full color legend, the rules, and a breakdown of every category. Every row is shaded in its own color, so you can match your highlighter to the page. When a verse fits two categories, a split note sits right under it and tells you which color wins.

Highlighting Your Own Copy

1. Get the right highlighters. Bible paper is thin, and wet highlighters bleed through. Use dry or gel highlighters made for Bibles.
2. Test first. Try each color on a blank page in the back before you touch Genesis.
3. Go one book at a time. Open the guide to that book, work top to bottom, and check off what you finish.
4. Do prophecy first. Prophecy wins every tie, so color those verses before anything else. Then follow the guide for the rest.
5. One verse, one color. If the guide gives a verse a split note, use the color it says wins.
6. Using another Bible? Quotes get Dark Green. TOM already prints Old Testament quotes in italics, so you can skip them here. If you are using the guides in another Bible, mark quotes with a dark green highlighter and a light touch. If the verse is in red letters, underline it in green instead, so it doesn't end up looking like a Christmas ornament.
7. Underline, don't highlight, the family line of Jesus. Use a thin red pen under the name only.

What you never have to do: red letters, italics and brackets are already printed. Your job is just the colors.

Take your time. Highlighting the whole Bible is a project, not a weekend. But by the end, you will know your way around this book better than most people who've owned one for 30 years.

Your Turn

In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul told Timothy, "Be diligent... rightly dividing the word of truth." That's the whole point of this Bible. Not to make you a scholar. To make you a workman who knows how to use his tools.

You now know the tools. Colors mean something. Red letters mean God is talking. Brackets mean not in the oldest copies. Notes point forward and back. Every claim we make, you can check.

And please do check. In Acts 17:11, the Bereans heard the apostle Paul preach and then went home to see if he was right. Luke calls them noble for it. If they could fact check Paul, you can fact check me.

Every change we made to the Bible text is listed in our change log. Scan the QR code on the copyright page to see it. Find a mistake? Tell us at bibletechsupport.com. We'll fix it and thank you.

Now close this manual and open the book it was written for. Start anywhere. Genesis is a good beginning, John is a great one. Just start.

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