BY  :  Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor 

President Donald Trump will read from 2 Chronicles via a video message from the Oval Office on Tuesday, taking part in America Reads the Bible, a weeklong public Scripture-reading initiative organized to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States’ independence.

Trump will deliver his reading during the 6 p.m. ET hour on Tuesday, according to America Reads the Bible, the organizing body behind the initiative.

He will read from 2 Chronicles 7:11–22, a passage that includes the verse: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Dr. Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during Trump’s first administration, and his wife, Candy Carson, are scheduled to follow the president’s reading.

The event brings together nearly 500 leaders and representatives of 122 ministries in Washington, D.C., for a continuous public reading of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Daily readings run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Museum of the Bible’s World Stage Theater from Sunday through Saturday. An opening celebration was held Saturday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson also took part in the opening celebration and is scheduled to read from Genesis 24, which traces the generational blessing from Abraham to Isaac.

Johnson said in a statement he was honored to stand alongside fellow Americans acknowledging the moral and religious heritage of the nation.

Bunni Pounds, founder and president of Christians Engaged, is behind the initiative and modeled it after the biblical account of Ezra’s public reading of Scripture. In a statement issued ahead of the event, Pounds called the passage one of the most important Scripture readings for the American Church. She said the president’s participation would give hope for national healing and renewal.The event’s theme is “One Week. One Nation. One Book.” Great American Pure Flix is livestreaming the full week of readings, and the public is invited to attend in person or watch online.

The White House issued a presidential message recognizing the initiative on Friday, the eve of the opening celebration.

The message traced the Bible’s role in U.S. history from the arrival of the Mayflower through the founding period and into the present. It cited John Winthrop’s 1630 invocation of the Sermon on the Mount, the Declaration of Independence and the 1787 Northwest Ordinance. It also referenced a letter from President John Adams to Benjamin Rush in which Adams called the Bible the most profound work of philosophy and morality ever conceived.

The message further cited the inaugural oath of George Washington, who placed his hand on the Bible and kissed it after taking office. The White House noted that Abraham Lincoln quoted Scripture four times and mentioned God 14 times in his Second Inaugural Address. The presidential message also cited Franklin D. Roosevelt’s radio prayer on the eve of the Normandy landings in 1944 and Ronald Reagan’s 1983 proclamation, which named that year the Year of the Bible.

Multiple members of the Trump administration are scheduled to participate alongside the president. They include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner.

Also participating are Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council; Vincent Haley, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council; Paula White-Cain, senior adviser at the White House Faith Office; and Jenny Korn, deputy assistant to the president and faith director of the White House Faith Office.

America Reads the Bible marks the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776.

Pounds said the event is intended to prompt citizens to reconnect with the biblical foundations that have animated the republic for two and a half centuries.

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