² When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel’s tomb,^(A) at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys^(B) you set out to look for have been found. And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried^(C) about you. He is asking, “What shall I do about my son?”’

³ Now the donkeys^(A) belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.” ⁴ So he passed through the hill^(B) country of Ephraim and through the area around Shalisha,^(C) but they did not find them. They went on into the district of Shaalim, but the donkeys^(D) were not there. Then he passed through the territory of Benjamin, but they did not find them.

⁵ When they reached the district of Zuph,^(E) Saul said to the servant who was with him, “Come, let’s go back, or my father will stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying^(F) about us.”

¹⁹ So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath^(A) (that is, Bethlehem^(B)). ²⁰ Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day^(C) that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb.^(D)

¹⁶ Saul replied, “He assured us that the donkeys^(A) had been found.” But he did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about the kingship.

This was the inheritance of Benjamin for its clans.^(F)

¹⁵ This is what the Lord says: