90-Hour Bible Reading Marathon Held At U.S. Capitol
Over a thousand Bible believers from all over America have once again held a Bible reading marathon outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.—the 28th year they have been holding the annual event.
The annual U.S. Capitol Bible Reading Marathon began on Sunday evening with the reading of Genesis 1:1, the organizers said.
It culminated at noon on Thursday, May 4, with the reading of the final chapter of the book of Revelation. By that time, 90 continuous hours had been spent reading every word of the Bible aloud and without commentary, according to DC Bible Marathon.
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The five days and four nights of Bible reading saw many branches of faith—Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Messianic and Jewish—setting aside their differences and coming together to promote the importance of the Bible in people's lives.
The Bible was read by people from various cultures, ages, denominations, races, languages and political parties.
The event was organized by The Bible Foundation and assisted by many volunteers from across the nation.
Speaking to Faithwire, the Rev. Michael Hall said the event had three purposes: to honor biblical scripture, put the First Amendment into practice by combining "speech, assembly and religion," and unite various Judeo-Christian denominations around the world's most beloved and influential book.
"All we do is try to bring people together around reading the Bible — that's it," Hall said, underscoring that there is no political element to the event.
Hall said they had gathered Bibles in 100 languages to allow visitors from other countries to read the Holy Book in their own native tongues.
He observed that on previous occasions these visitors had shed tears while reading the Bible "because they don't have that freedom [to read the Scripture in their own countries]."
The event dovetailed with the National Day of Prayer on May 4, an annual event held on the first Thursday in May.
Organizers said the theme this year is "For Your Great Name's Sake! Hear Us... Forgive Us...Heal Us!" The theme is lifted from Daniel 9:19, which reads "O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, listen and do; defer not, for your own sake, O my God: for your city and your people are called by your name."
More than 40,000 events were expected to be held all over America to commemorate the occasion, as CP earlier reported.
Last year, the National Day of Prayer reportedly broke the record for the number of individual events when approximately 47,000 local events were held nationwide.
