From there he continued on to a mountain to the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
Zanoah, Adullam and their villages, at Lachish and its fields, and at Azekah and its villages. So they lived from Beer-sheba as far as the Valley of Hinnom.
The border passes from there southward toward Luz, to the slope of Luz (that is, Bethel), and descends to Ataroth Addar on the hill south of lower Beth-horon.
So Joshua sent them out. They went to the place of ambush and took up a position between Bethel and Ai, westward of Ai, and Joshua spent the night among the people.
Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come to the appointed assembly days, and the Philistines are gathering themselves together at Mikmash,
Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Mikmash and in mountains of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent each to his tent.