I. Observation
What do I see? What are the facts? What key words are crucial to what the author has to say? Use a concordance to find where else these words are used. Chart the flow of the passage. View the parts in light of the whole. Look for "but," "and," & "therefore." Read the text out loud. Read it in a different place than usual to get a new feel for it. Read the passage in different translations and paraphrases. Rewrite the text in your own paraphrase.
Diagram sentences. Look for questions and answers in the passage. Climax and resolution. Cause and effect. Etc. Is the passage a letter? A narrative? A poem? Something else? What is the setting? Who are the people in the text? What does each person have to say?
How does the author feel? What was it like to be in his shoes? Read from the perspective of the different characters involved. Read from God's perspective. Read from Satan's perspective. Read from Jesus' perspective. Read from the perspective of someone who knows nothing of the Bible or religious things.
What are the relationships between the characters? What feelings might be involved? What practical considerations? What is happening? In what order? What happens to the characters? What is the argument? What is the point? What is the writer trying to communicate? What's wrong with this picture?Where is the narrative taking place? Where are the people in the story? Where are they coming from? Where are they going? Where were the original readers? When did the events in the text take place? When did they occur in relation to other events in Scripture? When was the writer writing? Why is this included? Why is it placed here? Why does this person say that? Why does someone in the story say nothing?
II. Interpretation
What does it mean? Bombard the text with questions. Look for the answers to your questions based on your observations. Put the answers together into a meaningful whole. Reconstruct the meaning of the passage after you've taken it apart to inspect the details. What can you discover about the original context in which this passage was written and applied? Given that original context, what does this text mean? What fundamental, universal truths are presented in this passage? Can you state that truth in a simple sentence or 2, a statement that anyone could understand? What issues in your own culture and your own situation does this truth address? What are the implications of this principle when applied to your life and the world around you? What changes does it require? What values does it enforce? What difference does it make? What questions remain unanswered? What problems does this text create? What issues does it speak to?
Is there an example to follow? Is there a sin to avoid? Is there a promise to claim? Is there a prayer to repeat? Is there a command to obey? Is there a condition to meet? Is there a verse to memorize? Is there an error to mark? Is there a challenge to face?
III. Application
So what? Ask yourself how this particular passage will work in your life. Ask yourself how this passage could transform others' lives
Nothing good happens fast. Be patient. Come to every text as if you've never seen it before. Read meditatively. Pray the passage for myself & others.
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