Subtext - Pulp Fiction

JULES
You ever read the Bible, Brett?

BRETT
(in spasm)
Yes.

JULES
There's a passage I got memorized,
seems appropriate for this situation:
Ezekiel 25:17. "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."

Whenever a character quotes a verse or a poem, there is, of course, subtext, because while that character may be quoting poetry or a verse, he or she is actually saying something about something else. Here, Jules famously quotes Execkiel 25:17, but he is also placing himself into that verse somewhere. But where? Who is it that Jules thinks he is in the context of that verse? Is he the Lord? The Shepherd? The Righteous Man? Even Jules isn’t sure until he’s in the coffee shop at the end of the movie and has that little "talk" with Pumpkin:

JULES
…Besides, I ain't givin' it to him.
I'm buyin' somethin' for my money.
Wanna know what I'm buyin' Ringo?

PUMPKIN
What?

JULES
Your life. I'm givin' you that money
so I don't hafta kill your ass. You
read the Bible?

PUMPKIN
Not regularly.

JULES
There's a passage I got memorized.
Ezekiel 25:17. "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." I been sayin' that shit for
years. And if you ever heard it, it
meant your ass. I never really
questioned what it meant. I thought
it was just a coldblooded thing to
say to a motherfucker 'fore you popped
a cap in his ass. But I saw some
shit this mornin' made me think twice.
Now I'm thinkin', it could mean you're
the evil man. And I'm the righteous
man. And Mr. .45 here, he's the
shepherd protecting my righteous ass
in the valley of darkness. Or it
could be you're the righteous man
and I'm the shepherd and it's the
world that's evil and selfish. I'd
like that. But that shit ain't the
truth. The truth is you're the weak.
And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But
I'm tryin'. I'm tryin' real hard to
be a shepherd.

You can read Quentin Tarantino's script here.