President Donald Trump has recorded himself reading scripture from the Old Testament for a marathon Bible reading billed as “a national reading of God’s law.”
Fresh off a public tirade against the Pope and backlash over an AI-generated image portraying himself as Jesus Christ, the 79-year-old president prepared a two-and-a-half-minute reading calling for repentance from God’s people for an event at the Museum of the Bible.
The White House has called the reading an event to “honor Holy Scripture, renew our faith, usher in a historic resurgence of religion on American shores, and rededicate the United States as one Nation under God.”
Trump’s passage comes from the Old Testament book of II Chronicles, which has become one of the Christian right’s favorite passages.
“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,” Trump’s passage reads.
Other MAGA personalities taking part in the “America Reads the Bible” event include Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, both of whom are Catholic. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, an evangelical Christian, is also taking part in the Bible-reading event, just days after being widely ridiculed for reading a “prayer” largely taken from the 1994 film Pulp Fiction at a Pentagon prayer service. The overwhelming majority of participants in the event are evangelical Christians, The New York Times reported.
Most of the participants will read their passages live at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. over the course of the next week. Trump’s portion will be broadcast between 6 and 7 p.m. EST on Tuesday.
Trump has a rather complicated history with religion. Trump has long said the Bible is his favorite book, but he has struggled to come up with his favorite verses, or even which Testament he prefers.
The president has also tried to profit from the Bible, selling a $60 Trump-branded God Bless the USA Bible during his 2024 campaign.
Last month, he appeared to take credit for Bible sales at a White House Easter luncheon, saying, “So, Bible sales are now at the highest number in many decades.”
In 2020, he famously cleared out a crowd of protesters outside the White House so he could do a photo-op outside St. John’s church while holding the Bible.
More recently, the self-obsessed president has drawn the ire of many faithful Americans for his crazed Truth Social posts.
Last week, he posted an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus Christ, which was roundly criticized by Christians, including prominent MAGA personalities, as blasphemous.
He later claimed he thought the image depicted him as a doctor, and the image was deleted from his Truth Social account.
The president has also railed against Pope Leo, whom he called “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” after the pontiff appeared to criticize Trump’s war in Iran.
On Thursday, he went as far as to make up a quote from Pope Leo, in which he claimed the Pope said: “Iran can have a nuclear weapon.” The Pope has said no such thing.
This Easter, the holiest day of the Christian faith, Trump also set off alarm bells with a profanity-ridden tirade against Iran.
“Open the F----n’ Strait, you crazy b-----ds, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH!” he continued, adding, “Praise be to Allah.”
