Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth meant to invoke holy scripture in discussing the rescue mission of an American fighter pilot stranded in Iran — but he actually quoted Quentin Tarantino.
In a prayer delivered by Hegseth during a Pentagon worship service on Wednesday, he read a fake Bible verse from Tarantino’s 1994 “Pulp Fiction.” It was the altered version of Ezekiel 25:17 that is righteously delivered by Samuel L. Jackson’s character in the movie just before he shoots a man to death.
Hegseth told the assemblage that the prayer was recited by the “Sandy 1” Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission in Iran. “They call it CSAR 25:17, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17,” the secretary said.
Calling on everyone to pray with him, Hegseth then read this (via Defense Now): “The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of camaraderie and duty shepherds the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother, and you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee. Amen.”
What Hegseth read was nearly word-for-word the line delivered by Jules Winnfield, Jackson’s hitman in “Pulp Fiction”: “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon thee.” Hegseth’s prayer mix-up was first spotted by religion and politics blog A Public Witness.
For “Pulp Fiction,” Tarantino actually lifted the fake verse from 1973 Japanese martial arts movie “Bodyguard Kiba” (including the erroneous attribution to Ezekiel), substituting “the Lord” for “Chiba the Bodyguard.”
The actual Ezekiel 25:17 passage in the King James Bible, which is a declaration of divine vengeance against the Philistines, reads like this: “And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.”
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
Meanwhile, during his remarks at press conference Thursday morning, Hegseth again invoked the Bible — and compared journalists to the Pharisees, the figures in the New Testament who opposed Jesus, per Mediate.
Hegseth accused the media of constant negativity about Trump’s attack on Iran. He said: “You see, the Pharisees, the so-called and self-appointed elites of their time, they were there to witness, to write everything down, to report. But their hearts were hardened. Even though they witnessed a literal miracle, it didn’t matter. They were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda.”
Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor, was picked by President Donald Trump to lead the Defense Department after Trump won a second term. He was sworn in on Jan. 25, 2025, as “the 29th secretary of defense before the department’s name was changed on Sept. 5, 2025,” to the U.S. Department of War, according to the Pentagon’s bio for him.
From Variety US