Scripture Study Skills: Lesson 168

Annotating Scriptures

Remembering the Lord’s Sacred Words and Messages

It can be easy to forget things—even important things. The act of remembering often requires much effort. Annotating our scriptures is one way we can remember important messages from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

This lesson can help students see the importance of annotating scriptures to remember personal messages from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Student preparation: Invite students to consider what they do to remember important details or spiritual impressions when they study their scriptures. Ask them to ponder why they do it. Or they could ask their parents or classmates to share what they do to remember these things and why. Students could come to class prepared to share their answers.

Possible Learning Activities

Remember

Write the word Remember on the board.

• What are examples of things you feel are important to remember?

  List students’ answers underneath the word on the board. They might mention things such as passwords, names, deadlines, keys, locations, or spiritual experiences.

• When have you forgotten one of these things?

• What did you do (or would you do) the next time to remember it?

Display either your digital or printed scriptures.

Ponder if you have ever read the scriptures and felt like the Lord told you something important you needed to remember. Consider what you did, if anything, to remember it.

Display the following statement.

Read the following statement by Elder Richard G. Scott (1928–2015) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Look for reasons we might want to remember important things as we study the scriptures:

Scriptures are like packets of light that illuminate our minds and give place to guidance and inspiration from on high. They can become the key to open the channel to communion [or communication] with our Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. (“The Power of Scripture,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2011, 6)

• What do you learn from Elder Scott?

Students might share a variety of truths they learn. This lesson will focus on the truth that the scriptures can help us receive guidance and inspiration from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

• Why do you think it is important to remember the guidance and inspiration we receive from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as we study our scriptures?

Display the following continuation of Elder Scott’s statement.

Slowly read the following questions from Elder Scott. Ponder how you would answer each question.

How do you personally use the scriptures? Do you mark your copy? Do you put notes in the margin to remember a moment of spiritual guidance or an experience that has taught you a profound lesson? (“The Power of Scripture,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2011, 6)

After students have had a few moments to ponder, point out the phrases “mark your copy” and “put notes in the margin.” Point out that both of these phrases are important skills we use to annotate our scriptures.

Today we will practice marking and adding notes to our scriptures. These skills can help us remember guidance and inspiration from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Look for messages from Them today as you seek revelation through the Holy Ghost.

Skill: Marking scriptures

Define

Marking scriptures helps emphasize a word, phrase, or verse that you feel is important or meaningful during scripture study. This skill can help you remember guidance and inspiration from the Holy Ghost that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want you to receive. We can mark our scriptures in many ways, including underlining, highlighting, circling, or adding symbols to distinguish words, phrases, or passages.

• What are other reasons someone might mark their scriptures?

Students might mention personalizing their scriptures, identifying important truths or patterns, or highlighting something of interest.

Model

To model marking scriptures, you could show markings from your own scriptures. You could also invite a student beforehand to show and explain how they mark their scriptures.

Alternatively, you could show the video “2.3.1 A Marking System That Works for You” (1:56), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org. In this video, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shows how he marks his paper scriptures.

To model marking digital scriptures, you could refer to “Annotate” under the Help section of the Gospel Library app.

• What marking methods do you or people you know use to remember important messages from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?

Practice

The following activity can help students practice marking their scriptures.

Display the instructions below.

1. Select one of the following doctrinal mastery passages:

   • Matthew 5:14–16

   • Matthew 11:28–30

   • 2 Timothy 3:15–17

   • James 1:5–6

2. Study the passage, marking words or phrases you feel are important to remember. Use any marking method of your choice.

3. Consider how remembering what you marked could strengthen your relationship with God.

After enough time, invite students to share with a partner what they marked and why they marked it.

Skill: Adding notes to scriptures

Define

As we study the scriptures, we might have thoughts and questions about what we are reading, or we might discover something we haven’t seen before. When this happens, we can add a note to remember what we learn or feel. We can write notes in the margins of print scriptures or use the Notes feature in Gospel Library. We might add personal thoughts and impressions, definitions and explanations, or prophetic teachings.

• What are other kinds of notes we might add to our scriptures?

Students might mention cross-references, lists, insights gained from others, and so on.

Model

To model adding notes to scriptures, you could display a note you’ve added to your scriptures or have a student share a note they have added.

Alternatively, you could show the video “2.7 Analyzing a Passage” (8:12) from time code 1:10 to 6:03. This video shows a seminary class adding questions and answers as notes to a doctrinal mastery passage.

To model adding notes in digital scriptures, you could refer to “Annotate” under the Help section of the Gospel Library app.

• What additional methods could individuals use to add notes to their scriptures?

Practice

The following activity can help students practice adding notes to their scriptures. Display the following instructions.

1. Refer to the doctrinal mastery passage you chose earlier.

2. Add notes of things you want to remember, such as personal thoughts, definitions, explanations, prophetic teachings, and so on

3. Consider how remembering the notes you added could strengthen your relationship with God.

After enough time, invite students to share the notes they added with a partner.

Reflection

Invite students to reflect on their experience annotating their scriptures. You could invite them to answer the following questions in their journals and then allow willing students to share what they wrote.

• What did you learn today about annotating scriptures that helps you?

• What might you do differently the next time you study your scriptures to help you remember guidance and inspiration from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?

Students will likely need several reminders to annotate their scriptures to see how it can draw them closer to God. Look for opportunities in upcoming lessons to encourage students to continue practicing these skills. Over time, students might feel that scripture study becomes an important way to draw closer to God.

Additional Resources

How could annotating scriptures make my gospel study more meaningful?

President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency shared:

Just last month I learned again the power that comes from trying harder to have the scriptures opened to our hearts. It began when I noticed the scriptures of a man sitting next to me in a meeting. He opened them as the discussion progressed, and I could see that they were marked, as I had done, but with a difference. He had placed colored tags on the edges of pages, keyed to the colors in which he had marked the scriptures. I asked him after the meeting to tell me about it. He showed me the front of his scriptures where he had placed a typed page. On that page were topics about the gospel, each with a line under it. And he had placed the colored markers on the edge of the scriptures, one color for each topic, so that he could study all the scriptures that were helpful to him on that topic.

Within a day I had purchased an inexpensive set of scriptures. But it took more than a few days and more than a few prayers for me to know the topics that would open the scriptures anew for me. … I would not urge you to buy a new set of scriptures, nor to get colored tags and colored pencils, nor to choose the topics that I chose. But I plead with you to return to the scriptures in some way that opens your mind and heart to be taught. (“Always,” [Brigham Young University devotional, Jan. 3, 1999], 4–5, speeches.byu.edu)

Is there a certain way I should annotate my scriptures?

President Boyd K. Packer (1924–2015) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

There are a number of plans for underlining scriptures. They vary somewhat and should suit the individual. The important thing is to underline them and make marginal notes of some kind so you can find them again. (Teach Ye Diligently, revised ed. [2005], 166)

What if I don’t feel the Holy Ghost speak to me when I study my scriptures?

Brother Chad H Webb of the Sunday School General Presidency explained:

Sometimes our youth hear stories that seem miraculous and fail to realize that the Holy Ghost also speaks to them in a variety of simple ways, like when they have an inspired question or when they think to mark the scriptures. (“His Representatives” [address given at the 2022 Seminaries & Institutes Annual Training Broadcast with President Ballard, Jan. 21, 2022])

Supplemental Learning Activities

Alternative beginning

For an alternative way to begin the lesson, consider doing a memory activity. For example, you could say several random words or show pictures (such as duck, computer, nail, pumpkin, airplane, doctor, and so on). Then invite students to try to recall each word or picture in the order you said or showed them.

Then repeat the words or pictures, but this time invite students to do anything they choose to remember the items and order.

• What did you do to remember the words or pictures?

You could invite students to relate this activity to remembering important things in our personal scripture study. You then could talk about ways we can remember Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s messages to us as we study the scriptures.

Remembering Jesus Christ’s words

After discussing the importance of remembering, you could explain that several New Testament individuals learned the importance of remembering Jesus Christ’s words. Invite students to choose one of the following accounts, looking for what Jesus taught that these individuals remembered.

Luke 24:1–9 (Faithful women learn of Jesus’s Resurrection.)

Acts 20:32–35 (Paul reminds the Jews of Jesus’s words.)

• How might these individuals have been blessed because they remembered Jesus’s words?

This activity could lead to discussing ways we can remember Heavenly Father and Jesus’s words as we study the scriptures.

Blessings of marking scriptures

To model marking and annotating scriptures, you could use the following activity in the “Model” section. Show the video “This Day” from time codes 00:59 to 1:44, inviting students to look for how Elder Ronald A. Rasband felt about one of his copies of the Book of Mormon.

You could pause the video and ask the following question:

• What might Elder Rasband have done to make his copy of the Book of Mormon so meaningful?

You could then continue Elder Rasband’s story by showing “This Day” from time code 1:44 to 3:20.

• How might marking and annotating his Book of Mormon have helped Elder Rasband have a meaningful experience with Jesus Christ in his scripture study?