![]() ![]() Toward the end of the movie the savage bounty hunter experiences what clearly seems to resemble the effectual calling of the LORD. But, what I do find most interesting, and want to point out, is that often over-looked in this incredibly popular film is the salvation story of Samuel L. It should be noted that this post is neither an endorsement of Tarantino’s re-rendering the Bible, nor of the movie Pulp Fiction as a theological guide. The portion about the valley of darkness refers to King David’s words in Psalm 23, and the portion about being one’s brother’s keeper refers to the first human death, occurring in Genesis 4, in which Cain, after murdering his brother, asks the LORD, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The portion of the monologue about the tyranny of evil men is inspired by Ezekiel 34. Pretty much all of the themes Jackson’s passage incorporates are found in different places in the Bible, but they are all re-workings, not true to the original text. Admittedly, Quentin Tarantino, the writer and director of Pulp Fiction, dreamed up this quotation as a re-imagining of several Biblical themes, and reworked them as a monologue that he believed best expressed the drama intended for the movie scene. Additionally, there are a couple of theological inconsistencies present in the Pulp Fiction monologue. Sure Jackson’s quote finishes along the same lines as the Bible verse, but the preceding lines in Pulp Fiction’s rendition appear nowhere in the Bible, and certainly not in Ezekiel chapter 25. The actual verse reads as follows: Ezekiel 25:17 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 thing is, the quotation above is not at all a proper rendering of Ezekiel 25:17. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.” *The following video contains violent content not suitable for all viewers. ![]() And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. 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. “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Then Jackson goes on to deliver what appears to be a tremendously dramatic Bible exhortation: “Do you read the Bible, Brett? Well there’s this passage I’ve got memorized – sort of fits this occasion. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the scene. Jackson’s misquotation of Ezekiel 25:17, in Pulp Fiction, was voted the fourth best movie speech of all time. The Bible verse in Pulp Fiction is all about revenge and redemption, especially in Jules’ story, but a theory has assigned the roles in the passage to each of the main male characters in the movie, thus giving it a different meaning.Given the preoccupation with misused Bible verses, I want share what I find to be, by far, one of the most intriguing, and perhaps unrealized, modern misquotations of the Bible. In the beginning, Jules is all about vengeance, emphasizing the line “ And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee”, but when he tells the verse to Pumpkin, he’s more about the roles of the weak, evil, and the path of the righteous man. While there is an Ezekiel 25:17 passage in the Bible, Jules declaims a different version that slightly changes throughout the movie, as well as Jules’ focus on certain parts of it. Right after that, Jules lets Pumpkin and Honey Bunny go. Jules recited the verse one more time while negotiating with Pumpkin at the diner, telling him that maybe he (Pumpkin) was the evil man and Jules was the righteous man, while his gun was the shepherd, or it could also be that Pumpkin was the righteous man and Jules was the shepherd. This “divine intervention” moment was a turning point for Jules, who later on while having lunch with Vincent at the diner from the opening sequence, told his partner that he planned to retire, and he contemplated the aforementioned Bible verse. ![]()
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