When the Israelite men realized the tough situation they were in, and that the army was taking a beating, they hid themselves in caves, holes, rocks, pits, and cisterns.
David replied to Gad, “This is an awful situation for me! Please, let the Lord decide my punishment, for he is merciful. Don't let me be punished by people.”
But this people ended up robbed and raided, all of them trapped in holes or hidden in prisons. They have been stolen like loot, with no one to save them from being someone's prize, no one to say “Give them back!”
(The cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men he'd killed, including Gedaliah, was a large one that King Asa had dug because of the threat of attack by Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael filled it with bodies.)
Tell them that this is what the Lord God says: As I live, the people living among the ruins will be killed by the sword. Those living in the countryside will be eaten by wild animals. Those living in the fortresses and caves will die from disease.
When the men of Ai looked back they saw the smoke rising up into the sky from the town. They had nowhere to run to, because the Israelites who had been running away towards the wilderness now turned on their pursuers.
Then Samuel left Gilgal. The rest of the soldiers followed Saul to meet the army, going from Gilgal to Geba in Benjamin. Saul counted the number of soldiers who were with him and there were about six hundred.
So both of them let themselves be seen by the Philistine garrison. “Hey, look!” shouted the Philistines. “The Hebrews are coming out of the holes they were hiding in.”
When all the Israelites who had been hiding in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were running away, they also joined in chasing after the Philistines to attack them.
Then the people of Ziph went to Saul at Gibeah and told him, “David is hiding in our area, in the strongholds in Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, in the southern wastelands.
When the Israelites who lived along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan realized that the Israelite army had run away, and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and they also ran away. So the Philistines came and took them over.
When the Philistines found out that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, their rulers led an attack on Israel. When the Israelites heard about this, they were terrified at what the Philistines might do.