Judges 16:23 (YLT)

Passage

and the princes of the Philistines have been gathered together to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; and they say, `Our god hath given into our hand Samson our enemy.'

Nearby Context

Judges 16:21 And the Philistines seize him, and pick out his eyes, and bring him down to Gaza, and bind him with two brazen fetters; and he is grinding in the prison-house.

Judges 16:22 And the hair of his head beginneth to shoot up, when he hath been shaven,

Judges 16:23 and the princes of the Philistines have been gathered together to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; and they say, `Our god hath given into our hand Samson our enemy.'

Judges 16:24 And the people see him, and praise their god, for they said, `Our god hath given in our hand our enemy, and he who is laying waste our land, and who multiplied our wounded.'

Judges 16:25 And it cometh to pass, when their heart <FI>is<Fi> glad, that they say, `Call for Samson, and he doth play before us;' and they call for Samson out of the prison-house, and he playeth before them, and they cause him to stand between the pillars.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "princes", "philistines", "been", "gathered", "together", "sacrifice", and "great". 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 the hair of his head beginneth..." into verse 24's "And the people see him and praise...", 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.