What Does 2 Samuel 1:20 Mean?
Do not tell it in Gath, do not bring good news into the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised leap.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.THE KEY
A defeat has a second life: once announced, it can become glad tidings in the streets of those who rejoice over you.
THE MEANING
Your loss does not arrive as the same news to every hearer. In the mouths of those who oppose you, it can become glad tidings and a reason to exult. The verse holds the wound of defeat together with the added wound of hearing it celebrated in public.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that defeat ends when the event ends: the telling can carry the loss into an enemy’s celebration.
THE ROOT
תְּבַשְּׂרוּ
tevaseru
GROWS FROM
בשר
b-ś-r
Announce or bring news, often glad tidings.
“bring good news” in this verse is tevaseru. English “publish” sounds like neutral circulation; this Hebrew verb often carries the sense of bringing glad tidings. Israel’s loss is not merely news in Philistine streets, it is news they can receive as good.
ALSO GROWS
besorah: Tidings, often good news.
בְּשׂוֹרָה
The report of defeat can arrive to its hearers as good news.
mevaser: A herald or bearer of news.
מְבַשֵּׂר
The word evokes a messenger carrying news to others, making the report’s audience part of its force.
תִּשְׂמַחְנָה
tismaḥnah
GROWS FROM
שמח
ś-m-ḥ
Be glad, rejoice.
“rejoice” in this verse is tismaḥnah. This root names the gladness of the hearers and, in other forms, the act of making glad. Here that gladness belongs to those who take Israel’s loss as their own cause for celebration.
ALSO GROWS
simḥah: Joy or gladness.
שִׂמְחָה
The root makes the Philistines’ response a joy rooted in another people’s defeat.
mesammeaḥ: One who gladdens or makes glad.
מְשַׂמֵּחַ
The related form highlights how an event can become the source of another person’s gladness.
THE PATTERN
Those opposed to a fallen witness can turn that fall into a public celebration.
Then the rulers of the Philistines gathered together to slaughter a great offering to Dagon their god, and to rejoice. For they said, Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.For there, those who took us captive asked us for the words of a song, and those who mocked us asked for joy, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.And those who settle on the earth rejoice over them and celebrate, and they send gifts to one another, because these two prophets torment those who settle on the earth.THE THREAD
And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to bring good news into the house of their idols, and among the people.The Hebrew verb rendered “publish” in both verses comes from בשר (b-ś-r), meaning to announce or bring tidings. Here the Philistines send news of Saul’s death among their people, making David’s warning echo the very kind of public announcement he fears.
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