Gath in the Bible

Meaning: a wine-press

Exact Match


“And I will cut off and destroy the inhabitants from Ashdod,
And the ruler who holds the scepter, from Ashkelon;
And I will unleash My power and turn My hand [in judgment] against Ekron,
And the rest of the Philistines [in Gath and the towns dependent on these four Philistine cities] shall die,”
Says the Lord God.

Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?

Thematic Bible



Do not tell [it] in Gath; you must not weep at all. In Beth-le-Aphrah roll yourself [in] dust.

from the Shihor, which [is] {east of Egypt}, up to the border of Ekron to [the] north, which is reckoned as Canaanite; [there are] five Philistine rulers: the Gazites, Ashdodites, Ashkelonites, Gittites, Ekronites, and the Avvim.

Now these [are] the gold tumors which [the] Philistines returned [as] a guilt offering to Yahweh: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron.

Cross over [to] Calneh and see, and go from there [to] Hamath Rabbah and go down [to] Gath of the Philistines. [Are] you better than these kingdoms, or is their territory greater than your territory?


So David got up and fled on that day from the presence of Saul, and he came to Achish the king of Gath. The servants of Achish said to him, "[Is] not this David the king of the land? [Is] it not for this [one] that they sang in the dances, saying, 'Saul killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands?'" {David took these words seriously} and {felt severely threatened by} Achish the king of Gath. read more.
So he changed his behavior {before them} and pretended to be mad {in their presence}. He made scratches on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down into his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see a madman! Why did you bring him to me? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this one to act like a madman before me? Should this one enter my household?"

So David got up and crossed over, he and the six hundred men who [were] with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, the king of Gath. David settled with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each with his household. David [took along] his two wives Ahinoam {from Jezreel} and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And it was reported to Saul that David had fled [to] Gath, so {he no longer searched for him}. read more.
Then David said to Achish, "Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, then let them give me a place in one of the {country towns} that I can live there. Why should your servant live in {the royal city} with you?" So Achish gave him Ziklag on that day. (Therefore, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah until this day.) The number of days that David lived in the countryside of the Philistines [was] one year and four months.


Then {a champion} went out from the camps of [the] Philistines, whose name was Goliath from Gath. His height was six cubits and a span.

And again there was war with the Philistines. And Elhanan son of Jair struck down Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear [was] like a weaver's beam. And again there was war in Gath. And there was a {very tall} man [there], and {he had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all}. He himself [was] also a descendant of the Rephaim. And he taunted Israel, but Jehonathan son of Shimea, brother of David, struck him down. read more.
These were born to the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.


All his servants [were] passing {by him}: all of the Kerethites and all of the Pelethites and all of the Gittites--six hundred men {who had followed him} from Gath--passing {before the king}. The king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why [are] you also coming with us? Return and stay with the king, for you [are] a foreigner; moreover, you [are] an exile. {You [are] far from your place}. Yesterday when you came and {today}, I have caused you to wander by going with us. Now I [am] going to where I [am] going; return and let your brothers return. [May] loyal love and faithfulness [be] with you." read more.
But Ittai answered the king and said, "{As Yahweh lives} and {my lord the king lives}, surely in the place wherever my lord the king shall be, if for death or if for life, surely there your servant will be." Then David said to Ittai, "Go and pass over." So Ittai the Gittite passed over and all his men and all of the little children who [were] with him.


It happened that at the end of three years, two of Shimei's slaves fled to Achish, son of Maacah, the king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, "Your slaves [are] here in Gath." So Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and he went to Gath, to Achish, to search for his slaves. So Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,


None of the Anakites were left in the land of the {Israelites}; some remained only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.


Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz returned and took the cities from the hand of Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael which he had taken from the hand of Jehoahaz his father in the war. Three times Jehoash defeated him and recovered the towns of Israel.


At that time, Hazael king of Aram went up and fought against Gath and captured it; then Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem.


from the Shihor, which [is] {east of Egypt}, up to the border of Ekron to [the] north, which is reckoned as Canaanite; [there are] five Philistine rulers: the Gazites, Ashdodites, Ashkelonites, Gittites, Ekronites, and the Avvim.


However, David [was] not willing to bring the ark of Yahweh to himself, to the city of David, so David caused it to turn [to] the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.


And he went out and made war against the Philistines, and he broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod, and he built cities in Ashdod and among the Philistines.


Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,


And it happened [that] after David struck the Philistines and subdued them, he captured Gath and its villages out of the hand of the Philistines.


So they sent and gathered all the rulers of [the] Philistines to them, and they asked, "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" And they said, "Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around toward Gath." So they moved the ark of the God of Israel [to Gath].


It happened afterwards [that] David attacked [the] Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg Ammah from the hands of [the] Philistines.