Secretary of War Leads Pentagon Prayer Service Using Verse From Pulp Fiction, Which Borrowed It From a 1973 Japanese Martial Arts Film

The Dispatch On April 15, 2026, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth led a Christian worship service at the Pentagon, one of a series of regular services he has hosted at the department since taking office. During the service, Hegseth told those assembled that fifteen minutes prior he had been discussing blockades with Admiral Brad Cooper, who has led U.S. forces during the Iran war, and that what they discussed in worship should inform their military decisions and conduct. He then introduced a prayer he said had been recited by the combat search and rescue team known as Sandy 1 ahead of the mission to recover U.S. Air Force crew members shot down over Iran earlier in the month. He said the prayer was titled CSAR 2517, adding: “I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17.” He asked those present to pray with him and read the prayer aloud. The prayer Hegseth read was adapted almost word-for-word from a monologue delivered by the character Jules Winnfield, played by Samuel L. Jackson, in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction. In the film, Jules recites the speech immediately before shooting an unarmed man. He attributes it to Ezekiel 25:17. The prayer as Hegseth read it substituted the phrase “downed aviator” for “righteous man,” “camaraderie and duty” for “charity and good will,” “brother’s keeper” for the film’s “brother’s keeper,” and closed with “you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee” in place of the film’s “you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.” The passage Tarantino wrote for the film was itself adapted from a line in the 1973 Japanese martial arts film Bodyguard Kiba, substituting “the Lord” for “Chiba the Bodyguard.” Tarantino attributed the passage to Ezekiel. The actual text of Ezekiel 25:17 in the King 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.” The April 15 service was the second in a row at which Hegseth read a violent prayer framed in religious terms. At a March service, he read a prayer that included the line: “Grant this task force clear and righteous targets for violence.” He also called for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.” At the April 15 service, Hegseth also compared journalists to the Pharisees, the New Testament figures who opposed Jesus, stating that their hearts were hardened and that even though they witnessed a literal miracle it did not matter, as they were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda. The Department of War did not comment. The actual Ezekiel 25:17 remains one sentence long. Source Block Original source: Forbes Archived copy: archive.org Screenshot on file: screenshots/hegseth-pulp-fiction-pentagon-prayer-ezekiel.png Retrieved: 2026-04-16 Additional sources: Variety — full attribution chain including Bodyguard Kiba: https://variety.com/2026/film/news/pete-hegseth-pulp-fiction-fake-bible-verse-prayer-service-1236723446/ A Public Witness — first to identify the Pulp Fiction link: https://publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/hegseth-borrows-violent-prayer-from Middle East Eye — full prayer text, Department of War renamed: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-pete-hegseth-reads-fake-bible-verse-pulp-fiction-during-pentagon-sermon Daily Beast — March prayer “overwhelming violence of action”: https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-pete-hegseth-cites-fake-pulp-fiction-bible-verse-in-bonkers-prayer-meeting/ Newsweek — impeachment context, Pentagon response: https://www.newsweek.com/people-ask-pete-hegseth-quoted-quentin-tarantino-version-bible-11836528