8. New Marked Reference Bible (KJV). God. 1983. Zondervan. 1753 pages. [Source: Bought]
First sentence: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Started: July 10, 2026
Finished September 15, 2026
This is the "New Marked Reference Bible" which leads me to believe there was a "Marked Reference Bible" before this one. I believe Zondervan released the "New Marked Reference Bible" in 1972--my edition is the seventeenth printing in 1983. I'm guessing the marking system could date back so far as 1928 since that's the earliest date in the listing. The marking system is "marked and edited" by J. Gilchrist Lawson (editor of the Christian Worker's New Testaments).
So what is the marking system?
All verses about salvation are marked with red ink.
All verses about the Holy Spirit are marked with green ink. (More like teal)
All verses about temporal blessings are marked with tan.
All verses about prophetic subjects are marked with blue.
There does seem to be a chain reference situation going on. There is a "help" system in the front that is detailed about how to use the color codes most effectively AND the chain reference to study the themes. Each of the four broad subjects (colors) are broken down by letter into smaller subsections. For example, salvation has eighteen subsections--each represented by a letter of the alphabet.
A All unsaved people are sinners
C Condition of sinners described
D Christ Died to save sinners
E The Lord knows Every secret thing
F We are saved through Faith
G "Good Works" alone will not save
H Punishment and Hell await sinners
J All men will be Judged by the LORD
K Saving and Keeping power of the God
L The LORD LOVES and saves sinners
M We must be Meek or Humble before God
N Neglecting or Rejecting Salvation
O The Lord is the Only way to salvation
P The Lord loves and Pardons backsliders
R Repentance, confession, and restitution
S Holy Living SHOULD follow conversion
T Testifying or confessing the Lord
W "Whosoever will" may be saved
When you find a color coded verse in the Bible there will be a LETTER (written in that color) which indicates which subsection it falls into. One verse may have multiple letters on the side. For that matter, a verse may have TWO colors and be split down the middle. (This was not my favorite or best.)
This marking system came out BEFORE the Rainbow Study Bible. It is similar in some ways. BUT the Rainbow Study Bible color codes EVERY SINGLE VERSE of the Bible. It covers a lot more subjects and topics than just these four main ones.
What else should you know?
It is out of print. You may find it thrifting, but, it is no longer in print.
It is the King James Version.
It is verse by verse.
Complex words are broken down with a pronunciation guide. (Not all, but mainly proper nouns--people, places, etc. It seems relatively arbitrary. Like Samaria has a pronunciation guide but Galilee doesn't. Jesus doesn't have a pronunciation guide (thankfully) but Lazarus does. So it has less of a pronunciation guide than some KJV but still has some words broken down into syllables.
It is DOUBLE COLUMN.
Words of Christ are in black letter.
Verses are color coded. A built-in highlighted section, if you will.
Not all verses are color coded.
The print size is on the smaller end. The print size of the help section is TINY.
This one features a LOT of Bible helps at the back of the Bible.
The book introductions are in the BACK OF THE BIBLE.
There are various charts and tables and articles about the chronology of the Bible.
There is a harmony of the gospels chart.
There is a concordance and maps section.
There is a Bible reading plan.
Most notably perhaps there is a help section called 5500 Questions and Answers on the Holy Bible that cover the Bible Genesis - Revelation.
My thoughts: I struggled with this one because of the print size. The color coded backgrounds were slightly distracting because of my ongoing vision issues. If the font had been larger I'm not sure I would have struggled with the background. I have read the Rainbow Study Bible at least once or twice with no problem. I did appreciate that it was not red letter.
I do love the King James Version.
I thrifted this one very reasonably. I can appreciate how in 1972 many Bibles weren't so well equipped with HELPS. Though to be fair, the THOMPSON CHAIN REFERENCE Bible would predate this one and it has a TON of helps in it. The Scofield (several editions) would also have been around. I'm sure there were other editions of the KJV that had extra bells and whistles to help men and women understand the Word of God better. Now I'm trying to think of when the Open Bible came out! But I'm thinking that was late 70s.
© Becky Laney of
Operation Actually Read Bible
