Bible Strands
1 Samuel 13:6
Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator addresses the reader at the moment the Philistine army camps at Michmash and Samuel has not yet arrived at Gilgal.
The words — צַר־ (tsar-) denotes distress, and נִגַּשׂ (nigas) denotes being hard-pressed, describing the severe military pressure on Saul’s troops.
The thread — This scattering into hiding parallels the Israelites’ flight from Midian in Judges 6:2 and the persecuted believers described in Hebrews 11:38.
Why it lands — The text states that visible military pressure caused the men of Israel to hide in caves, thickets, rocks, cellars, and cisterns. It asks the reader to observe how abandoned leadership and fear produce fragmented, defensive survival rather than unified resistance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits.
Cross-references
- Judges 6:2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.
- Hebrews 11:38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.
- Exodus 14:10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians marching after them, and they were terrified and cried out to the LORD.
- Joshua 8:20 When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now turned against their pursuers.
- Judges 10:9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, and Israel was in deep distress.
- Judges 20:41 Then the men of Israel turned back on them, and the men of Benjamin were terrified when they realized that disaster had come upon them.
- 1 Samuel 14:11 So the two of them showed themselves to the outpost of the Philistines, who exclaimed, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes in which they were hiding!”
- 1 Samuel 23:19 Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon?
- 1 Samuel 24:3 Soon Saul came to the sheepfolds along the road, where there was a cave, and he went in to relieve himself. And David and his men were hiding in the recesses of the cave.
- 2 Samuel 24:14 David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”