⁹ Even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place. And when some of our troops^[a] fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the troops who follow Absalom.’

³ He came to the sheepfolds beside the road, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself.^[a] Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave.^(A)

David and His Followers at Adullam

22 David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; when his brothers and all his father’s house heard of it, they went down there to him.^(A)

¹⁴ In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed about twenty men within an area about half a furrow long in an acre^[a] of land. ¹⁵ There was a panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison and even the raiders trembled; the earth quaked; and it became a very great panic.^(A)

³² The Benjaminites thought, “They are being routed before us, as previously.” But the Israelites said, “Let us retreat and draw them away from the city toward the roads.” ³³ The main body of the Israelites drew back its battle line to Baal-tamar, while those Israelites who were in ambush rushed out of their place west^[a] of Geba.^(A)

⁶ They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us as before.’ While we flee from them,

⁵ The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, chasing them from outside the gate as far as Shebarim and killing them on the slope. The hearts of the people melted and turned to water.