how to study the Bible

Literal Interpretation

Always take the Bible literally, unless it can't possibly be LITERAL, in which case it might be SYMBOLIC or FIGURATIVE.The Bible interprets itself, scripture with scripture, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
We have been infected with the Origen/Roman Catholic interpretive system.

Isaiah 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little::

1Corinthians 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Context

God always means exactly what He says, as He says it, where He says it, when He says it and to whom He says it.In one sense this means: always notice the context of a passage before making application. Read the surrounding passages to understand the subject matter.
But more importantly, you have to understand what dispensation (a Biblical word) you are dealing with. You are today living in the church-age, which is not the same as living under the law, or living in the Millennium age.

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.

That's a verse reflecting dispensationalism.

Don’t blur the lines where God has set them, in order to help Him be consistent where you think He couldn’t be otherwise. Also bear in mind that the Bible is a book of progressive revelation. Deuteronomy (Deuter Onomos; Second Law) is a progressive revelation from Exodus so that there are no contradictions. Christian education could have spared itself the headache had it got that.
Moreover the Bible divides the world into Jew, Gentile and Church

1Corinthians 10:32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:

Here's the base rule, if you don't get the Jew in his right place, most of the Bible will be closed to you and you will have to overspiritualize half the stuff, like identifying Israel with the church.

2Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Those are 4 different things. Various passages that have the same devotional value have different doctrinal value.
Again, this doesn’t undermine God’s consistency. For example

Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

whomoever you might be at whatever time.

Along the same lines, another Biblical principle always overlooked is

Things different are NOT equal

unless the Bible defines them to be!

Example:The Kingdom of God is NOT the Kingdom of HeavenHow do we know?

1) God is spelled G-O-D; Heaven is spelled H-E-A-V-E-N
2) God is eternal, the heaven is not
3) God is a spirit, the heaven is physical (just because “heavenly” has come to be equivalent with “spiritual” in peoples’ minds doesn’t change the fact that the heavens are made up of physical matter)
(1-3, P.S.Ruckman)
4) “The kingdom of God is within you” Luke 17:21; the kingdom of heaven is outward, visible, physical and earthly and Davidic; hence the words “Thy kingdom come”. If they are the same and they (it) is within them, why would they be instructed to pray that? Keep in mind that kingdom of Heaven went into mystery form in Matthew 13.
It is true that sometimes, they seem to be spoken of interchangeably. That’s because they are united in Jesus Christ as Son of God and Son of Man

John 5:39 Search the scriptures

Well, God’s didn’t write an A4 paper. He wrote a book, a book with interpretive difficulties, seeming contradictions and hard-to-swallow truths. Why?

a) Because he doesn’t want lazy flesh-led believers to sit around and drink spiritual milk. He wants you going over that book comparing scripture with scripture and hammering your head-out in study and supplication for illumination from the Holy Spirit. It affords the believer growth in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. You don’t learn everything about God in one reading, and the journey with the Bible is intensely rewarding. God chooses to reveal truth to us in bits and pieces like a puzzle. He seldom addresses a subject in it's entirety in one place. He'll introduce a doctrine, and then He'll wait maybe dozens and dozens of chapters before telling you anything else about it.

b) Because He has a design to condemn people who want to condemn the Word. There are stumbling blocks to the flesh of everyman in that book intentionally.

c) Because the Bible is a revelation of God’s eternal power and Godhead, as is nature. His self-existent nature is rich, complex, yet unique. Why are people surprised at that? Venus rotates in reverse and water does not obey the laws of expansion and contraction…(P.S.Ruckman)

There are other reasons, but we pass.

The omissions of the Bible are just as inspired as the text

For example the Holy Spirit intentionally chose not to give the world or include the other epistles of Paul. Sometimes a silence on an issue or lack of deterministic information stem from divine wisdom and you will be accountable over how you deal with the Word of God concerning those things

Application

All Scripture has at least three applications: Historical, Doctrinal, and Spiritual.
Moreover, don’t limit Scripture to only one meaning. Sometimes a portion of Scripture can refer to something near at hand, and then also have a future fulfillment. You can expect to see many double and even triple references in the Bible. For example, Hosea 11:1 says, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." In the immediate context this refers to the nation of Israel being God's "son", as we are also told in Exodus 4:22. However, a DUAL reference is found in Matthew 2:15, where Jesus' coming back from Egypt is said to be a fulfillment of Hosea 11:1.

First Mention

Get in the good habit of taking note of "first mentions" in the Bible. Often times God will use the first mention of a word, phrase, or even a number, to establish a certain association that you'll need to keep in mind throughout His word.

Types and Foreshadows
(my favourite)
The Bible is replete with all sorts of types and foreshadows.For example, the Old Testament offers many types of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abel is a type of Christ in that he offered to God an acceptable sacrifice, and also that he was murdered by wicked hands. Isaac is a type, only son to be sacrificed.
Eleazar is a type of the Holy Spirit. The sun is a type of Christ, Who is the light of the world. The Ark is a type of Christ in many ways. The offerings and the feasts in Leviticus all picture certain truths about Jesus Christ in His three offices as Prophet, Priest, and King. Moses and Joshua, great leaders of God's people, are types of Christ as are some of the Kings and Priests of Israel.There are also many other types, like types of the church, salvation, the second coming, the tribulation, the millennial kingdom, the Antichrist, etc...

Numerology

Another interesting design in God's word is His unique way of attaching meanings to various numbers. Developing a basic knowledge of what a number is generally associated with can be very helpful.One is unity. Two is division. Three is trinity. Some say four is the earth (?). Five is death. Six is man. Seven is perfection, or completeness. Eight is a new beginning. Nine is fruitfulness. Ten is the Gentile number. Eleven (no one yet “nailed” that one)Twelve is Israel's number. Thirteen is rebellion.

And don't be fooled, there is not one intimation in the Word of God in any verse that you need knowledge of the “original” languages in order to better understand the Bible.

Finally, believe what you read! and pray to have your eyes opened.