Judges 16:23 (DRB)

Passage

And the princes of the Philistines assembled together, to offer great sacrifices to Dagon their god, and to make merry, saying: Our god hath delivered our enemy Samson into our hands.

Nearby Context

Judges 16:21 Then the Philistines seized upon him, and forthwith pulled out his eyes, and led him bound in chains to Gaza, and shutting him up in prison made him grind.

Judges 16:22 And now his hair began to grow again,

Judges 16:23 And the princes of the Philistines assembled together, to offer great sacrifices to Dagon their god, and to make merry, saying: Our god hath delivered our enemy Samson into our hands.

Judges 16:24 And the people also seeing this, praised their god, and said the same: Our god hath delivered our adversary into our hands, him that destroyed our country, and killed very many.

Judges 16:25 And rejoicing in their feasts, when they had now taken their good cheer, they commanded that Samson should be called, and should play before them. And being brought out of prison, he played before them; and they made him stand between two pillars.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "princes", "philistines", "assembled", "together", "offer", "great", "sacrifices", and "dagon". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "princes" and "philistines", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 22's "And now his hair began to grow..." into verse 24's "And the people also seeing this praised...", so "princes" and "philistines" belong inside that flow. In Judges context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "princes" and "philistines" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.