¹⁶ They said to him, “Behold, there are fifty strong men with your servants. Let them go out and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has picked him up and set him down on a mountain or in some valley.” But he answered, “Do not send them.”

¹⁷ They continued to insist until he became embarrassed and he said, “Send them.” The fifty men searched for three days, but they did not find him. ¹⁸ When they came back to him in Jericho where he was staying, he said to them, “Did I not tell you that you should not go?”