When all the Israelite men who had been hiding in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were fleeing, they also joined Saul and Jonathan in the battle.
The men of Israel saw that they were in trouble because the troops were in a difficult situation. They hid in caves, in thickets, among rocks, and in holes and cisterns.
When the men of Israel on the other side of the valley and on the other side of the Jordan saw that Israel’s men had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled. So the Philistines came and settled in them.
They let themselves be seen by the Philistine garrison, and the Philistines said, ‘Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they’ve been hiding! ’