(RNS) — On Tuesday (April 21), President Donald Trump will publicly read from the Bible. It won’t be any lines from “Pulp Fiction,” but it’s still theatrics. And the choice of text for him shows he remains at the center of Christian nationalist visions, even as he personally avoids church.
On Sunday morning, the weeklong project “America Reads the Bible” kicked off, in the beginning, with Genesis 1. The effort to read through the entire Protestant canon of the Bible is occurring inside the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., and via online streaming. Trump will read a few verses on Tuesday evening from 2 Chronicles 7. At the heart of his section is verse 14, long a favorite among those pushing to codify Christianity into public life and government.
“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,” the passage reads in the KJV Easy Read Bible being used for the event.
The choice of “Two Chronicles” is not a coincidence. Many of the passages chosen for politicians to read show an attempt to match them with verses to highlight an ideological or personal message. For instance, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s selection included a verse in Genesis 12 he likes to cite to justify pro-Israel policies today. Pseudo-historian David Barton will read from the Book of Nehemiah, which he invokes to justify the name of his Christian nationalist group WallBuilders. Similarly, evangelist Franklin Graham of Samaritan’s Purse will read Luke 10, which includes the “parable of the Good Samaritan.”
So, why 2 Chronicles 7:14 for Trump? There’s a long tradition of presidents and preachers invoking the verse for “God and country” vibes.
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Union chaplains and Northern preachers invoked it during the Civil War to justify their side. Dwight D. Eisenhower took the presidential oath of office on two Bibles in 1953, with one previously used by George Washington, open to this verse at the suggestion of Billy Graham. Ronald Reagan used his mother’s Bible, open to this verse, for both of his inaugurations. Speaking to the National Association of Evangelicals as he campaigned for reelection in 1984, Reagan called it “one of my favorite Bible quotations.” When Mike Pence took the oath as Trump’s first vice president, he used the same Reagan family Bible and also opened it to the verse, which he had cited repeatedly on the campaign trail.
Stripped of its context of a covenantal promise God made to King Solomon and his descendants at the dedication of the Temple, the verse has been applied to the United States by preachers and politicians for decades. In this retelling, the United States became the new Israel, Americans the new chosen people. Yet, that’s not a faithful application of the text. With apologies to Carly Simon, we’re so vain we think this verse is about us. After all, 2 Chronicles was written centuries after Solomon to people returning home from exile after being defeated and enslaved by a foreign power. The verse is a reminder to those on the bottom that God is still with them, and therefore not a wave-the-flag-pep-rally chant for the powerful who control the global empire.
Yet, putting aside concerns about biblical interpretation, the popularity of this verse among those favoring a more officially “Christian” nation makes sense. If the verse can be applied to this nation, then it justifies efforts to force governmental declarations of the Christian faith. Thus, the verse has long been popular with Christian nationalist efforts like the National Day of Prayer. House Chaplain Margaret Kibben included it in her prayer to open the House on the day of Trump’s second inauguration, adding immediately after quoting the verse: “God bless America.”
Beyond the general God-and-country patriotism of past decades, 2 Chronicles 7:14 often operates in a unique way among Trump’s supporters. It was the most popular verse cited in prayers to start his campaign rallies in 2023 and 2024, with the implication that Trump’s election would help make the verse come true. For instance, during an Aug. 3, 2024, rally, Georgia megachurch pastor Jentezen Franklin said God spared Trump from an assassination attempt a month earlier, and Franklin then cited the verse. Franklin, who’s often in the Trump White House for faith events, even had the crowd shout “we’re that people” as he quoted the verse. It also showed up during the Republican National Convention in 2024, including by a speaker who used the verse while declaring, “We need God in our hearts and Donald Trump back in the White House.”
Framing Trump’s return to the White House as a sign of a coming national revival, this verse for MAGA preachers serves to endorse not just a generic American Christian nationalism but one that centers Trump as the new King Solomon. That’s why Bunni Pounds, the lead organizer of the “America Reads the Bible” effort, saved this verse for Trump. She told Fox News Digital that she realized “this is such a critical passage for the body of Christ,” so she wanted the president to read it as a way of highlighting this verse above all others.
“I think he’s sending a message that faith matters in this country, and that it’s important not only personally, but for our nation overall,” she explained. “I believe the president’s saying that by reading this Scripture specifically.”
Perhaps nothing better demonstrates the false idolatry of Christian nationalism than that decision. Trump reading 2 Chronicles 7:14 is not going to spark a religious revival. It’s not a magical spell that can unlock new powers if recited correctly. If anything, Trump’s association with “America Reads the Bible” could undermine the witness of the Bible among the majority of Americans who disapprove of his administration.
Even if this verse could be applied to the United States, Trump’s far from the appropriate messenger to call the nation to humility and repentance. He hasn’t attended public Sunday worship in nearly four-and-a-half years, only going to church for funerals or inaugurations. It should come as no surprise that a recent Pew Research Center survey found that an increasing number of Americans — 7 in 10 — say Trump is not very religious or not religious at all. On Easter Sunday, he skipped church to drive by where he wants to build a massive arch and to play golf. Later that day, he posted a Truth Social message with profanity and “Praise be to Allah.” The next Sunday, he again skipped church before posting a long attack on Pope Leo XIV and an AI image of himself as Jesus. He then inexplicably claimed he didn’t mean to portray himself as Jesus but just thought it made him look like a doctor.
How can “we the people” be God’s chosen people humbling ourselves and turning from our wicked ways simply by Trump reading a verse? It’s the logical fallacy of Christian nationalists, especially when centered on a profane politician they view as, in the words of Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, “almost the second coming” of Jesus. While Trump reads 2 Chronicles 7:14 after starting his feud with the pope and sharing that image of himself as AI Doctor Jesus, I’ll instead recall the words of the old proverb that Jesus even quoted: “Physician, heal thyself.”
(Brian Kaylor, a Baptist minister with a doctorate in political communication, is president of Word&Way and author of “The Bible According to Christian Nationalists.” The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)
