READ: 2 Peter 1:12-21
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. – 2 Peter 1:20, 21
Interpretation of what God is saying will be clearer when you have the privilege of understanding the language from which the Bible was translated.
4. Find out the meaning of Hebrew and Greek words from which the English version was translated.
Whenever text is being translated from one language to another, there are difficulties in getting the correct words to fit. We encountered such difficulties when we were translating my books from English to French. I cannot imagine the difficulties the Bible translators encountered when they were translating the Bible from Hebrew and Greek to English. Going into the Hebrew and Greek is just an attempt to clarify the meaning of what is being transmitted.
5. Interpret punctuation marks properly. Punctuation marks like full stops, commas, colons and semi-colons have important meanings. When you leave them out you will be subject to error. For instance, a colon means that text ahead explains further what has been said.
6. Consider secular material that throws more light on Scripture. For instance, historical, archaeological, geographical and cultural materials can give more insight into what the Word of God is saying.