Ashkelon

Ashkelon (also Askelon and Ascalon) was one of the five cities of the Philistine pentapolis, situated on the Mediterranean coast twelve miles north of Gaza. It was an important seaport and commercial hub. An Egyptian inscription at Karnak records its capture by Rameses II. In the period of the judges it was briefly taken by Judah (Judges 1:18) but quickly retaken by the Philistines. David's lament over Saul and Jonathan invokes Ashkelon in the famous phrase tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon (2 Samuel 1:20). Prophets including Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Amos, and Zechariah pronounced judgment against it.