A Pentagon prayer meant to highlight a military rescue mission quickly turned into a pop culture pile-on after critics noticed it sounded a lot like a famous line from “Pulp Fiction.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivered the prayer during a worship service while discussing a successful combat search and rescue operation involving a downed pilot in Iran.
He told the audience the words had been shared by the mission’s lead planner and were commonly recited by A-10 crews ahead of similar operations.
“This prayer was recited by Sandy 1… prior to all CSAR missions, but especially this CSAR mission that happened in real time,” Hegseth said, adding that the phrase “CSAR 25:17” was intended to echo the biblical verse Ezekiel 25:17.
What followed sounded familiar to movie fans. “The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men,” Hegseth said.
“Blessed is he who, in the name of camaraderie and duty, shepherd 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,” he continued.
This is my favorite scene from The Bible. pic.twitter.com/ftv0IudUZT
— MP Arizona☀️🏳️🌈💙🌵🐕🐕🦺🫂💦🏜🐟🌴🎙🌎🌻♍️🌊 (@AzPetrich) April 16, 2026
“And you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee.”
The lines closely track a monologue made famous by Samuel L. Jackson’s character in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film, which itself riffs on a stylized version of scripture.
🇺🇸🚨‼️ SUPER CUT: Secretary of War Hegseth reads a US Air Force version of the fictional Bible verse from Pulp Fiction.
Whether this is awesome or stupid is up to you. pic.twitter.com/5HuFz8dcrD
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) April 16, 2026
Ezekiel 25:17 in the Bible reads differently: “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.”
Video of Hegseth’s remarks spread rapidly online, racking up tens of millions of views and drawing immediate reactions from critics who questioned whether the quote was being presented as actual scripture.
Late-night host Stephen Colbert seized on the moment, airing footage of Hegseth’s prayer before cutting to Jackson delivering the same lines in the film.
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“Now, if that doesn’t sound like it’s from the Bible, that’s because it’s not,” Colbert commented. “Want to know what it’s from?”
The show then played the scene from “Pulp Fiction,” highlighting the near-verbatim overlap.
“Wow. Hegseth’s quoting from the gospel of Quentin Tarantino,” Colbert joked.
“If you’re not familiar with that gospel, it’s like the regular Bible, but Tarantino’s Jesus says the n-word a lot.”
He continued riffing on the comparison, adding, “Also, Quentin’s version really lingers on the feet washing stuff.”
Colbert went further, comparing Hegseth’s delivery to an audition tape.
“That mashup really feels like your self tape versus the guy who actually got the part,” he said.
Despite the criticism, Colbert said he still wanted the administration to succeed.
“If he succeeds, that means America succeeds,” he said before launching into his own parody prayer stitched together from well-known movie quotes.
“God, I’m talking to you. You talking to me? Are you talking to me? War is like a box of chocolates. I am tired of these motherf–kin’ sins on my motherf–kin’ soul.”
The final line drew a loud reaction from the audience, referencing another Jackson performance from “Snakes on a Plane.”
Sports commentator Charles Barkley also weighed in during a segment of “Inside the NBA.”
“Hey, we’re not going to listen to the pope anymore,” Barkley said. “We’re going to listen to Sam Jackson and Pulp Fiction.”
Hegseth pushed back on the criticism during a media briefing, turning his focus to the coverage surrounding the rescue mission itself.
“I just can’t help but notice the endless stream of garbage — the relentlessly negative coverage you cannot resist peddling, despite the historic and important success of this effort and the success of our troops,” he shot back.
.@SECWAR "To the American media—
I just can’t help but notice the endless stream of garbage—the relentlessly negative coverage that you cannot resist peddling, despite the historic and important success of this effort and the success of our troops.
Sometimes it’s hard to figure… pic.twitter.com/KCyT0u6ViA
— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) April 16, 2026
“Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what side some of you are actually on. It’s incredibly unpatriotic,” he added.
He compared some of the backlash to the treatment of biblical figures, referencing the Pharisees who persecuted Jesus Christ.
The Pentagon also defended the remarks, saying the prayer was a custom version used by personnel involved in the mission.
“Secretary Hegseth on Wednesday shared a custom prayer… used by the brave warfighters of Sandy-1,” said Sean Parnell, assistant to the secretary of war for public affairs.
He said both the military version and the film dialogue draw inspiration from the same biblical verse.
“Anyone saying the Secretary misquoted Ezekiel 25:17 is peddling fake news and ignorant of reality,” Parnell said.
The moment comes as Hegseth prepares to participate in a public Bible reading event in Washington, where hundreds of participants are expected to read scripture over the course of a week.
The event, titled “America Reads the Bible,” will include nearly 500 participants, including President Donald Trump.
Hegseth is listed among the scheduled readers for the event, which is being organized to mark 250 years of the Bible in America.