Then they launched a strong attack against the Israelites, putting them in a desperate situation. Some of the Israelites hid in caves and holes or among the rocks or in pits and wells;

others crossed the Jordan River into the territories of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and the people with him were trembling with fear.

Samuel left Gilgal and went on his way. The rest of the people followed Saul as he went to join his soldiers. They went from Gilgal to Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin. Saul inspected his troops, about six hundred men.

There were no blacksmiths in Israel because the Philistines were determined to keep the Hebrews from making swords and spears.

the charge was one small coin for sharpening axes and for fixing goads, and two coins for sharpening plows or hoes.)

The Philistines sent a group of soldiers to defend Michmash Pass.

So the king called out the young soldiers who were under the district commanders, 232 in all. Then he called out the Israelite army, a total of seven thousand men.

The Israelites were called up and equipped; they marched out and camped in two groups facing the Syrians. The Israelites looked like two small flocks of goats compared to the Syrians, who spread out over the countryside.

I will make a bargain with you in the name of the emperor. I will give you two thousand horses if you can find that many riders.

"Why are you crying, sir?" Hazael asked. "Because I know the horrible things you will do against the people of Israel," Elisha answered. "You will set their fortresses on fire, slaughter their finest young men, batter their children to death, and rip open their pregnant women."

At that time the LORD began to reduce the size of Israel's territory. King Hazael of Syria conquered all the Israelite territory

I crush them, so that they become like dust which the wind blows away. I trample on them like mud in the streets.

"Who was it that brought the conqueror from the east and makes him triumphant wherever he goes? Who gives him victory over kings and nations? His sword strikes them down as if they were dust. His arrows scatter them like straw before the wind.

I will make you like a threshing board, with spikes that are new and sharp. You will thresh mountains and destroy them; hills will crumble into dust.

You will toss them in the air; the wind will carry them off, and they will be scattered by the storm. Then you will be happy because I am your God; you will praise me, the holy God of Israel.

Thousands and thousands are in the Valley of Judgment. It is there that the day of the LORD will soon come.

The LORD says, "The people of Damascus have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They treated the people of Gilead with savage cruelty.