1 After Saul returned from fighting the Philistines, he was told that David had gone into the wilderness of En-gedi.
2 So Saul chose 3,000 elite troops from all Israel and went to search for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats.
3 At the place where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to relieve himself. But as it happened, David and his men were hiding farther back in that very cave!
4 “Now’s your opportunity!” David’s men whispered to him. “Today the lord is telling you, ‘I will certainly put your enemy into your power, to do with as you wish.’” So David crept forward and cut off a piece of the hem of Saul’s robe.
5 But then David’s conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul’s robe.
6 He said to his men, “The lord forbid that I should do this to my lord the king. I shouldn’t attack the lord’s anointed one, for the lord himself has chosen him.”