¹⁹ But now the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him. “We know where David is hiding,” they said. “He is in the strongholds of Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which is in the southern part of Jeshimon. ²⁰ Come down whenever you’re ready, O king, and we will catch him and hand him over to you!”

²¹ “The Lord bless you,” Saul said. “At last someone is concerned about me! ²² Go and check again to be sure of where he is staying and who has seen him there, for I know that he is very crafty. ²³ Discover his hiding places, and come back when you are sure. Then I’ll go with you. And if he is in the area at all, I’ll track him down, even if I have to search every hiding place in Judah!” ²⁴ So the men of Ziph returned home ahead of Saul.

Meanwhile, David and his men had moved into the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah Valley south of Jeshimon. ²⁵ When David heard that Saul and his men were searching for him, he went even farther into the wilderness to the great rock, and he remained there in the wilderness of Maon. But Saul kept after him in the wilderness.

²⁶ Saul and David were now on opposite sides of a mountain. Just as Saul and his men began to close in on David and his men, ²⁷ an urgent message reached Saul that the Philistines were raiding Israel again. ²⁸ So Saul quit chasing David and returned to fight the Philistines. Ever since that time, the place where David was camped has been called the Rock of Escape.^{[a] 29 [b]}David then went to live in the strongholds of En-gedi.