Judges 16:24

And when the people saw him, they praised their god, saying: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy who destroyed our land and multiplied our dead.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Philistine crowd speaks to itself at a public sacrifice to Dagon, immediately after the captured Samson is brought before them. The words — The Hebrew וַיְהַלְלוּ (va/y.ha.Lu) translates literally as "and they praised," marking their vocalized worship. The phrase אֱלֹהֵיהֶם ('e.lo.hei./Hem) specifies "their god," identifying the deity they credit with Samson's capture. The thread — This pattern of enemies celebrating a fallen rival appears in 1 Samuel 31:9, where Philistines proclaim Saul's defeat, and Daniel 5:4, where Babylonian officials praise idols of metal and stone. Revelation 11:10 similarly records the earth's inhabitants gloating and exchanging gifts over defeated adversaries. Why it lands — The text records a hostile crowd attributing military victory to a false deity, demanding the reader recognize the contrast between human triumph and divine sovereignty. It asks the reader to observe how victory narratives consistently test the attribution of power to the correct God.

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The Hebrew words

King James Version

And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.

Cross-references

Daniel 5:4 As they drank the wine, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.
1 Samuel 31:9 They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temples of their idols and among their people.
Revelation 11:10 And those who dwell on the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and send one another gifts, because these two prophets had tormented them.
Deuteronomy 32:27 if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’”
Judges 15:8 And he struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.
Judges 15:16 Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.”
1 Chronicles 10:9 They stripped Saul, cut off his head, took his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people.
Isaiah 37:20 And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”
Ezekiel 20:14 But I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
Daniel 5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.