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.
Ver. 20. Tell it not in Gath.] Ah utinam saltem cladem hanc celare possemus hostes nostros. If wishing were anything, I could heartily wish that our enemies might never come to the knowledge of this great loss of ours. For how, alas! will they exult and insult over us, blaspheming God, and condemning his Church! as Judges 16:23,30 .