Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, he was struck down by an angel of the Lord, and he was eaten by worms and died.'—the divine judgment is immediate and retributive: Herod accepts divine honors without attributing them to God. The angel-strike (pathē hypo angelou kyriou) echoes plagues in the exodus narrative. Being 'eaten by worms' (skōlēkobrōtos, literally 'worm-eaten') while alive is a grotesque death, perhaps intestinal illness (based on historical accounts); it's the antithesis of apotheosis (godhood). The theological contrast is stark: Herod claims divinity and dies worm-eaten; the word of God (v. 24) grows and multiplies.

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