21 Saul replied: “The Lord bless you for your compassion toward me.
22 Go now and make sure once more! Take note of the place where he sets foot for I am told that he is very cunning.
23 Look around and learn in which of all the various hiding places he is holding out. Then come back to me with reliable information, and I will go with you. If he is in the region, I will track him down out of all the families of Judah.”
24 So they went off to Ziph ahead of Saul. At this time David and his men were in the wilderness below Maon, in the Arabah south of the wasteland.
25 When Saul and his men came looking for him, David got word of it and went down to the gorge in the wilderness below Maon. Saul heard of this and pursued David into the wilderness below Maon.
26 As Saul moved along one side of the gorge, David and his men took to the other. David was anxious to escape Saul, while Saul and his men were trying to outflank David and his men in order to capture them.
27 Then a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly, because the Philistines have invaded the land.”