This is a widely taught study technique that goes through the steps of Observation, Interpretation, and Application.
- Ask God to help you understand and see what He wants you to see. You can study a passage over and over again and get different things from it each time. (Don’t pray as you start to read. Stop. Pause and pray first.)
- Read the text through.
- Read it again and mark observations and questions (observation).
- I print out the text.
- You could use a notebook to write down your observations. Start each line of observation with what verse number you are looking at and label the top of the page with the passage reference.
- Pray and seek to understand what those observations mean (interpretation).
- Unless you really need a question answered to be able to understand the text and move forward, I would recommend leaving questions until the end and then if you want, pursue them. I don’t want you filling your head with the thoughts of others when you are trying to learn from the Word itself, and I don’t want you distracted and ending up place you don’t need to be.
- You can use a tool like Biblehub.com to look up meanings of the original words. Click on Interlinear to see the original language. GotQuestions.org is a pretty good place to get answers.
- Pray and trust God’s guidance to pull a lesson(s) from those interpretations (application).
- Write down any new questions or ideas you have that you might want to pursue with further Bible study.
P.S. Pulling meaning from the text is called exegesis. You want to have Bible lessons that are exegetical. You want to learn from the Bible. The opposite would be coming to the Bible with something you want to show or prove and trying to make the text fit the point you want to make.