1 Kings 20:32-42

32So they tied sackcloth around themselves. They put ropes around their heads. They went to the king of Israel and they said, ‘Your servant Ben-Hadad says, “Please let me live.” ’ King Ahab asked, ‘Is Ben-Hadad still alive? He is like my own brother.’

33When Ben-Hadad's men heard this, they thought that it was a friendly answer. So they quickly agreed, ‘Yes! Ben-Hadad is like your own brother.’ King Ahab said, ‘Go and fetch him.’ So Ben-Hadad came out from Aphek city. Ahab took him up into his chariot.

34Ben-Hadad said, ‘I will give back to you the cities that my father took from your father. Your traders can have their own markets in Damascus, as my father had in Samaria.’ Ahab answered, ‘If you do that, I will agree to let you go as a free man.’ So King Ahab made an agreement with King Ben-Hadad. Then he let him go home.

35At this time, the Lord gave a message to a prophet who belonged to a group of prophets. He told the prophet to say to one of his friends, ‘Hit me with your stick.’ But his friend refused to do it.

36So the prophet said to him, ‘You have not obeyed the Lord's command. Because of that, a lion will kill you as soon as you leave here.’ After the man left the prophet, a lion attacked him and it killed him.

37Then the prophet found another man. He said to him, ‘Please hit me!’ So the man hit him. He hurt the prophet very much.

38Then the prophet went and he stood beside the road. He was waiting for king Ahab to come. He tied a cloth over his eyes so that the king would not recognize him.

39When the king came along the road, the prophet shouted to him, ‘Please sir, I went to fight in the middle of the battle. Then someone brought an enemy soldier to me as a prisoner. He said to me, “Keep this prisoner safe. If he escapes for any reason, you will die! To save your life, you will have to pay 3,000 silver coins.”

40But I had other things to do, sir. While I was doing them, the prisoner escaped.’ King Ahab replied, ‘What you have just said shows that you deserve your punishment.’

41Then the prophet quickly took away the cloth that covered his eyes. The king recognized that the man was one of the prophets.

42The prophet said to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says to you: “I decided that a man should die, but you have let him go free. So you must pay for his life with your life. Your people will receive the trouble that his people deserved.” ’