I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger

Pulp Fiction debuted at the Cannes Film Festival 25 years ago Tuesday, but does a famous Ezekiel 25:17 speech in the film quote a real Bible verse?

On May 21, 1994, Pulp Fiction was unveiled to the world at the Cannes Film Festival. Known for a non-linear narrative style, one particular swear word in incredibly high volume, starting Samuel L. Jackson on a star track and making John Travolta cool again, the film was nominated for seven Oscars and won the award for Best Screenplay.

Jackson and Travolta play hitmen Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega in the movie, and Winnfield quotes scripture just before he kills someone. The speech surely sounds like it could come from the Bible, with words like “path”, “shepherds”, righteous”, “good will”, “tyranny”, “finder”, “lost”, “valley of darkness” , “brother’s keeper”, “charity”, “blessed”, and of course “the Lord.”

Jules says it’s the verse Ezekiel 25:17, and here’s the speech in full, via an NSFW video:

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 the 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 I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.

Jules goes existential on his speech toward the end of the film, wonder what words fit where as symbols.

But, is the Ezekiel 25:17 speech a full, accurate rendition of the actual Bible verse? Turns out, co-writer/director Quentin Tarantino took a good bit of creative liberty.

Ezekiel 25:17, via a New Living Translation of the Bible:

“I will execute terrible vengeance against them to punish them for what they have done. And when I have inflicted my revenge, they will know that I am the Lord.”

Another translation has the verse as this: ” 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.'”

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So while it’s one of Pulp Fiction’s most memorable quotes, the Ezekiel 25:17 speech is an inspired bit of dramatic fiction. On the 25th anniversary of the film’s world debut, a re-watch may be in order.

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 you.

There's Jules' favorite Bible passage in all its glory.

Jules takes some poetic license with the passage, though, probably to amp up the effect. Here's Ezekiel 25:17  from the NIV Bible: "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." That Old Testament God can be as scary as Jules sometimes, eh?

Many sources attribute this faux verse to Tarantino, assuming he invented it as part of the script. But those people have never seen the 1976 English version of the 1973 Japanese martial arts movie Karate Kiba, a.k.a., Chiba the Bodyguard, starring everybody's favorite mid-'70s martial arts hero, Sonny Chiba. Wait, you've never heard of it either? Well, lucky for you that Tarantino is the ultimate movie fan (watching them, not just making them), so he wrote the intro of Chiba the Bodyguard into Pulp Fiction with just a slight variation. Check it out for yourself here.

We're not kidding—that's the real introduction to the movie.

Jules himself gives us a few different interpretations of why he uses this passage. At first he says it was "just a coldblooded thing to say" to someone before he shot them. Since the miracle, he's been asking himself: Who is the righteous shepherd? And who is the tyranny of evil?

Now, Jules would love to be the shepherd, but he knows he's not shepherd (probably because he kills people for a living), and he's certainly not the weak since he's the one with the gun. He has control of the situation with Ringo in the diner and with Brett and the boys. That makes Jules, as much as he hates it, the tyranny of evil.

This realization causes him to give up his life as a gangster and try to become a shepherd; and what better place to start than shepherding the man right across the table from him. Ringo makes it out with $1500+, his life, and a nice little lesson.

What is the famous line from Pulp Fiction?

What movie did John Travolta and Samuel Jackson play in together?

What country is what Pulp Fiction?