Pete Hegseth — always ready to get medieval on someone’s ass — quoted a fake Bible verse from Pulp Fiction while leading a prayer service at the Pentagon on Wednesday.
The Secretary of War cited an iconic and not-actually-biblical monologue from Quentin Tarantino’s beloved 1994 film. It’s the speech given by fearsome hitman Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) to his victims right before he murders them.
Hegseth sets up the quote by saying it was a prayer recited by Sandy 1 — one of the US Air Force Combat Search and Rescue teams involved in the rather extraordinary rescue of a U.S. Air Force airman who was trapped behind enemy lines in Iran earlier this month.
“They call it CSAR 25:17, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17,” Hegseth told his audience (video below). “It reads — and pray with me please — ‘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.”
Ezekiel 25:17 actually just reads, “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.”
The quote was expanded greatly by Tarantino and Roger Avary for Pulp Fiction, where Jules famously says, “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.”
To be fair, the Secretary was clearly aware the quote isn’t an exact word-for-word Bible quote given the references to a downed aviator and “Sandy 1.” The man, like Jules, probably thought it just sounded like a Bible-inspired “cold-blooded thing to say” without being aware it was largely a Hollywood creation. It’s a good thing the airman was rescued quickly and wasn’t captured by the enemy, though, lest Hegseth end up reciting Christopher Walken’s gold watch speech.
