⁹ Surely by now he is hidden in some pit, or in some other place. And it will be, when some of them are overthrown at the first, that whoever hears it will say, ‘There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’

³ So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and ^(A)Saul went in to ^(B)attend to his needs. (^(C)David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.)

David’s Four Hundred Men^(A)

22 David therefore departed from there and ^(B)escaped ^(C)to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.

¹⁴ That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about ^[a]half an acre of land.

¹⁵ And ^(A)there was ^[b]trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and ^(B)the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was ^(C)a very great trembling.

³² And the children of Benjamin said, “They are defeated before us, as at first.”

But the children of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” ³³ So all the men of Israel rose from their place and put themselves in battle array at Baal Tamar. Then Israel’s men in ambush burst forth from their position in the plain of Geba.

⁶ For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ Therefore we will flee before them.

⁵ And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore ^(A)the^[a] hearts of the people melted and became like water.