² Then Saul arose and went down to the Wilderness of Ziph, having ^(A)three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the Wilderness of Ziph.

² Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and ^(A)went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

^17 (A)Then he said to David: “You are ^(B)more righteous than I; for ^(C)you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil.

²³ See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides; and come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. And it shall be, if he is in the land, that I will search for him throughout all the ^[a]clans of Judah.”

²⁴ So they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. But David and his men were in the Wilderness ^(A)of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon. ²⁵ When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David. Therefore he went down ^[b]to the rock, and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued David in the Wilderness of Maon.

² Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in ^(A)Michmash and in the mountains of Bethel, and a thousand were with ^(B)Jonathan in ^(C)Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent away, every man to his tent.