Now the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were hard-pressed). Then the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars, and in pits.
Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of Yahweh, for His compassions are abundant. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
But this is a people plundered and pillaged as spoil; All of them are trapped in caves, Or are hidden away in prisons; They have become a plunder with none to deliver them, And a spoil, with none to say, “Have them return!”
Now as for the cistern where Ishmael had cast all the corpses of the men whom he had struck down because of Gedaliah, it was the one that King Asa had made on account of Baasha, king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.
Thus you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of pestilence.
Then the men of Ai turned back and looked, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers.
And the power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.
So both of them revealed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines, and the Philistines said, “Behold, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves.”
Now all the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, and they pursued them closely in the battle.
Then Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?
And he came to the sheepfolds on the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave.
Then the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, with those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead. So they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.
Then the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered to Mizpah. And the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. Then the sons of Israel heard it and were afraid of the Philistines.