US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a recent sermon delivered at the Pentagon, appeared to quote what he presented as a biblical passage. Except, it was largely different from what the Bible reads and closely resembles a well-known monologue from Quentin Tarantino’s movie ‘Pulp Fiction’, delivered by Samuel L Jackson’s character.
The video of the incident is now all over social media – with netizens commenting about it.
While discussing the Sandy 1 mission on Wednesday — to rescue a downed pilot in Iran earlier this month — Pete Hegseth urged the audience to join him in a prayer, which he claimed was recited at the start of the operation.
“This prayer was recited by Sandy 1, which is one of the Sandies, to all Sandies, all those A-10 crews, prior to all CSAR missions, but especially this CSAR mission, which happened in real time,” Hegseth said. “They call it CSAR 25:17, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17.”
What is the original passage?
The original Biblical passage, however – is far shorter and refers to divine judgement in ancient times. What Hegseth recited at the Pentagon, also replaced references to “the Lord”.
The part from Kings James Bible 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.”
What Hegseth said?
In contrast to the original passage, Hegseth said:
“So the prayer is CSAR 25:17 and 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.”
Netizens turn to Grok
Social media was flooded with hilarious comments as videos of Hegseth reading the Bible Quote from ‘Pulp Fiction’ started doing the rounds on X, Instagram – among other platforms.
Several X users asked Grok to confirm if what Hegseth read was fake. In response, the AI chatbot said:
“Yes, that Bible verse Pete Hegseth quoted is fake. It’s the fictional one written for Pulp Fiction (Samuel L. Jackson’s character recites a longer, invented version of Ezekiel 25:17). The real Ezekiel 25:17 (KJV) is short: “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.” Hegseth adapted the movie script for his “prayer.””
