Saul picked three thousand men, keeping two thousand of them with him in Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel and sending one thousand with his son Jonathan to Gibeah, in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. The rest of the men Saul sent home.

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.

who was camping under a pomegranate tree in Migron, not far from Gibeah; he had about six hundred men with him.