Posted on 04/16/2026 6:04:43 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth read a fake Bible quote from Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 movie Pulp Fiction during a prayer service at the Pentagon on Wednesday.
Discussing the Sandy 1 rescue mission of a downed pilot in Iran this month, Hegseth (as first flagged by A Public Witness, a religion-themed Substack) urged his audience to join him in a prayer, which he claims was delivered at the beginning of the mission.
“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.”
He continued:
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.”
While the prayer didn’t sound very much like Ezekiel 25:17, which — in the King James Bible — simply 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,” it did bear a strong resemblance to a fake version of Ezekiel 25:17 quoted by the actor Samuel L. Jackson in Tarantino’s 1994 crime movie Pulp Fiction, just before his character shoots a man to death.
“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men,” says Jackson in the movie. “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.”
Tarantino himself poached the fake Bible verse from the 1970s Japanese martial arts movie Bodyguard Kiba.
As valedictorian of his high school, he beat out minority affirmative action candidates to get into Princeton and Harvard, and was accepted at West Point, but didn't attend.
That might not be a hallmark of brilliance, but "not too bright" doesn't describe him.
Sandbagged by a staffer?
I read no account of Hegseth attributing his prayer to the Bible. I’m sorry, but who decided that all prayers must be quotes directly from the Bible?
Tarantino and Kubrick are my Favorites
With a little Seinfeld and Three Stooges
For Balance.
Nyuk,nyuk,nyuk.
Mediaite crap
Men get it. We have no problem making sammiches. Jesus washed the feet of his Disciples. Indeed, per St Thomas—”the one thing God wants from every rational creature is the sacrificing of their will to his.”
Effeminacy as defined by St. Thomas Aquinas is “an unwillingness to put aside one’s pleasure in order to pursue what is arduous (difficult).”
If Hegseth was trying to be funny or kitschy or get likes during a solemn prayer service, that’s a textbook definition of a fem.
If FReepers cannot call honest balls and strikes, knowing they’d have butchered any Dem who did this, and want to pursue popularity over truth, that’s equally fem.
I am more willing to cut him a break for not doing due-diligence than opting for popularity.
Why is this even a story in the first place?
Too simple. Downed aviator...fallen angel....same same. 😁
Thousands. Largest burger chain in Spain, as it happens.
Yup, low IQ Pete. Only 2 Trump Cabinet members are high IQ - Rubio and Bessent.
Yup, low IQ Pete. Only 2 Trump Cabinet members are high IQ - Rubio and Bessent.
Ezekiel 25:17 "I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I take vengeance on them.”
Hegseth said the prayer "reflected" Ezekiel 25:17, not that it was the exact quote from Ezekiel 25:17.
The movie quote: “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.”
The prayer used by the Sandy crews is one they adapted for their own purpose from that of the movie.
“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.”
Tarantino apparently chose not to include "Amen" at the end, but the Sandy teams did. The liberal media hates anyone that prays, even when members of our military use a movie quote to create a prayer designed for their own set of circumstances.
Exactly 💯
We all have different backgrounds,
Favorite Books and Preachers.
We absorb The Truth and then distilled
Truth is Shared with others as prompted by The Holy Spirit. Putting our hearts into the mix..Scripture being Our Base Line.
That’s my take on it.
Wise as Serpents and Gentle as Doves.
You're defaming the crews that took the movie quote and made some changes to it, to suit a prayer for their own special needs as a team. Hegseth said it "reflected" Ezekiel 25:17, which it does, not that it was from Ezekiel 25:17.
For a few reasons.
1. The MSM hates Republicans.
2. It’s kinda funny for many people.
3. A combo of 1+2; it makes a Republican look daft.
4. Social science tells us engagement is stronger when people are triggered vs not. This story will trigger Republicans and increase their engagement with leftists laughing at them.
5. Slightly tied to 1, 4; Republics will reflexively defend Hegseth. Heck, it made it to FR. The MSM hatred likes it when Republicans make fools out of themselves. And, sadly, R often is too willing to oblige.
Exactly, he said it "reflected" Ezekiel 25:17, which it does.
it’s the media trying to help the RATS who have introduced impeachment charges against Hegseth. I wouldn’t be surprised if the RATS included this in their charges.
You clearly do not “get it”.
That’s OK.
Just move on with life ... your pretense of being offended debases you.
That was from pulp fiction...IIRC
I wouldn’t know.
Quality of the joke is not the issue; the issue is how some here are so ideologically bent they lack even basic discernment to know the difference between a joke / liberal propaganda and actual truth.
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