Pete Hegseth led a prayer service at the Pentagon and recited a Bible verse that is not actually from the holy book. The Secretary of Defense instead recited a quote made famous by Samuel L. Jackson’s character Jules in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.
Pete Hegseth recites fake Bible quote at prayer service
Pete Hegseth set up the reading by explaining that Sandy 1, a U.S. Air Force Combat Search and Rescue team, uses the prayer. The unit recently rescued an American airman trapped behind enemy lines in Iran. “They call it CSAR 25:17, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17,” Hegseth told those gathered at the Pentagon. He then read the passage aloud and asked the audience to pray with him.
The version Hegseth recited describes “the path of the downed aviator” facing “the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.” It promises “great vengeance” and “furious anger” against those who threaten “my brother.” The prayer ends with the line “you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee.”
However, the actual Ezekiel 25:17 reads differently. The biblical text states, “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.”
For context, Tarantino and co-writer Roger Avary had created their own longer iteration of the verse for Pulp Fiction. In the film, Jules says the passage before killing his victims, swapping in phrases about shepherding “the weak through the valley of darkness” and being “the finder of lost children.”
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell released a statement on X (formerly Twitter). “Secretary Hegseth on Wednesday shared a custom prayer, referenced as the CSAR prayer, used by the brave warfighters of Sandy-1 who led the daylight rescue mission of Dude 44 Alpha out of Iran, which was obviously inspired by dialogue in Pulp Fiction.” Further adding, “Anyone saying the Secretary misquoted Ezekiel 25:17 is peddling fake news and ignorant of reality.”
The Secretary of War Pete Hegseth hasn’t commented on this.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
