1 Samuel 4:8
New International Version
We’re doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

New Living Translation
Help! Who can save us from these mighty gods of Israel? They are the same gods who destroyed the Egyptians with plagues when Israel was in the wilderness.

English Standard Version
Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness.

Berean Standard Bible
Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

King James Bible
Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.

New King James Version
Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.

New American Standard Bible
Woe to us! Who will save us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

NASB 1995
“Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

NASB 1977
“Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

Legacy Standard Bible
Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

Amplified Bible
Woe to us! Who will rescue us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

Christian Standard Bible
Woe to us! Who will rescue us from these magnificent gods? These are the gods that slaughtered the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Woe to us, who will rescue us from the hand of these magnificent gods? These are the gods that slaughtered the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

American Standard Version
Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? these are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all manner of plagues in the wilderness.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Woe to us! Who will save us from the hands of the mighty God? This is the God who struck all Egypt with every plague in the wilderness

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Woe to us, O Lord, deliver us to-day for such a thing has not happened aforetime: woe to us, who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote Egypt with every plague, and in the wilderness.

Contemporary English Version
We're in big trouble! Who can save us from these powerful gods? They're the same gods who made all those horrible things happen to the Egyptians in the desert.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Woe to us: for there was no such great joy yesterday and the day before: Woe to us. Who shall deliver us from the hand of these high gods? these are the gods that struck Egypt with all the plagues in the desert.

English Revised Version
Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? these are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all manner of plagues in the wilderness.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
We're in trouble now! Who can save us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every kind of plague in the desert.

Good News Translation
Who can save us from those powerful gods? They are the gods who slaughtered the Egyptians in the desert!

International Standard Version
How terrible for us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? these are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all manner of plagues and in the wilderness.

Literal Standard Version
Woe to us, who delivers us out of the hand of these majestic gods? These [are] the gods who are striking the Egyptians with every plague in the wilderness.

Majority Standard Bible
Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

New American Bible
Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with various plagues in the desert.

NET Bible
Too bad for us! Who can deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues in the desert!

New Revised Standard Version
Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness.

New Heart English Bible
Woe to us. Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

Webster's Bible Translation
Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.

World English Bible
Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

Young's Literal Translation
Woe to us, who doth deliver us out of the hand of these honourable gods? these are the gods who are smiting the Egyptians with every plague in the wilderness.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Philistines Capture the Ark
7the Philistines were afraid. “The gods have entered their camp!” they said. “Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before. 8Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. 9Take courage and be men, O Philistines! Otherwise, you will serve the Hebrews just as they served you. Now be men and fight!”…

Cross References
Revelation 11:6
These witnesses have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.

1 Samuel 4:7
the Philistines were afraid. "The gods have entered their camp!" they said. "Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before.

1 Samuel 4:9
Take courage and be men, O Philistines! Otherwise, you will serve the Hebrews just as they served you. Now be men and fight!"


Treasury of Scripture

Woe to us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.

smote

Exodus 7:5
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

Exodus 9:14
For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.

Psalm 78:43-51
How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan: …

Jump to Previous
Blows Deliver Desert Egyptians Hand Hands Honourable Kinds Manner Mighty Ours Plague Plagues Power Salvation Smiting Smote Sort Sorts Struck Trouble Waste Wilderness Wo Woe
Jump to Next
Blows Deliver Desert Egyptians Hand Hands Honourable Kinds Manner Mighty Ours Plague Plagues Power Salvation Smiting Smote Sort Sorts Struck Trouble Waste Wilderness Wo Woe
1 Samuel 4
1. The Israelites are overcome by the Philistines at Ebenezer
3. They fetch the ark unto the terror of the Philistines
10. They are smitten again, the ark taken, and Hophni and Phinehas are slain
12. Eli at the news, falling backward, breaks his neck
19. Phinehas's wife, discouraged in her travail with Ichabod, dies














(8) These are the Gods that smote the Egyptians.--No doubt the compiler of these "Memoirs of Samuel" has given us the very words of the Philistines, preserved in their national traditions of this sad time. They are the expression of idolaters who knew of "Gods" and dreaded their malevolent influence, but who had no conception of the One Most High God. The plural form Elohim, so often found in the sacred record for God, is used here; but whereas the inspired compilers would have written their qualifying adjective in the singular, the Philistine idolaters write theirs in the plural--Elohim addirim: Mighty Gods.

It is noticeable that the Philistine exclamation of awe and terror is based outwardly upon the Egyptian traditions of the acts of the Lord. They studiedly ignore what they were all in that camp painfully conscious of--His acts in their own land of Canaan. The Septuagint and Syriac Versions, and some commentators, add "and" before the words "in the wilderness," to make the Philistine exclamation more in harmony with history, seeing that the plagues were inflicted before the Israelites entered the wilderness; but the very vagueness of the exclamation of fear speaks for its truth. They were little concerned with exact historical accuracy, and were simply conscious of some terrible judgment having fallen on the foes of this Israel, a judgment they not unnaturally connected with the Ark of the Covenant just arrived in the enemy's camp: that Ark their ancestors remembered so often at the head of the armies of this Israel in their days of triumph.

Verse 8. - These mighty Gods. In Hebrew "Elohim, though plural, is used of the one true God, but in this sense has always the verb or adjective belonging to it in the singular. In ver. 7 the Philistines conform to this rule, and say, Elohim is come; but here the verb, pronoun, and adjective are all plural, i.e. they speak as heathen, to whom polytheism was natural (comp. 1 Kings 12:28). With all the plagues. Rather, "with every plague," i.e. with every kind of plague. In the wilderness. God did not really smite the Egyptians in the wilderness. The plagues, including the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, had all happened before the Israelites had entered it. But probably the Philistines confused together the plagues of Egypt and the miracles in the wilderness, and even the conquest of Canaan, in one grand but vague whole, and so were ready to give way to despair, as they called to mind the traditions they had heard of these mighty interpositions of God for his people.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Woe
א֣וֹי (’ō·w)
Interjection
Strong's 188: Lamentation, Oh!

to us!
לָ֔נוּ (lā·nū)
Preposition | first person common plural
Strong's Hebrew

Who
מִ֣י (mî)
Interrogative
Strong's 4310: Who?, whoever, in oblique construction with prefix, suffix

will deliver us
יַצִּילֵ֔נוּ (yaṣ·ṣî·lê·nū)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | first person common plural
Strong's 5337: To strip, plunder, deliver oneself, be delivered, snatch away, deliver

from the hand
מִיַּ֛ד (mî·yaḏ)
Preposition-m | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 3027: A hand

of these
הָאֵ֑לֶּה (hā·’êl·leh)
Article | Pronoun - common plural
Strong's 428: These, those

mighty
הָאַדִּירִ֖ים (hā·’ad·dî·rîm)
Article | Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 117: Wide, large, powerful

gods?
הָאֱלֹהִ֥ים (hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

These
אֵ֧לֶּה (’êl·leh)
Pronoun - common plural
Strong's 428: These, those

are the gods
הָאֱלֹהִ֗ים (hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

who struck
הַמַּכִּ֧ים (ham·mak·kîm)
Article | Verb - Hifil - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 5221: To strike

the Egyptians
מִצְרַ֛יִם (miṣ·ra·yim)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 4714: Egypt -- a son of Ham, also his descendants and their country in Northwest Africa

with all kinds
בְּכָל־ (bə·ḵāl)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

of plagues
מַכָּ֖ה (mak·kāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 4347: A wound, carnage, pestilence

in the wilderness.
בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃ (bam·miḏ·bār)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4057: A pasture, a desert, speech


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OT History: 1 Samuel 4:8 Woe to us! (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa)
1 Samuel 4:7
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