1 Kings 20:31-43

311His servants said to him, “Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings, please let us 2put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will save your 3life.” 32So 4they girded sackcloth on their loins and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, “5Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’” And he said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” 33Now the men 6took this as an omen, and quickly 7catching his word said, “Your brother Ben-hadad.” Then he said, “Go, bring him.” Then Ben-hadad came out to him, and he 8took him up into the chariot. 34Ben-hadad said to him, “9The cities which my father took from your father I will restore, and you shall make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria.” Ahab said, “And I will let you go with this covenant.” So he made a covenant with him and let him go.

35Now a certain man of 10the sons of the prophets said to 11another 12by the word of the Lord, “Please strike me.” But the man refused to strike him. 36Then he said to him, “Because you have not listened to the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have departed from me, 13a lion will 14kill you.” And as soon as he had departed from him a lion found him and 15killed him. 37Then he found another man and said, “Please 16strike me.” And the man 17struck him, 18wounding him. 38So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, and 19disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes. 39As the king passed by, he cried to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and behold, a man turned aside and brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man; if for any reason he is missing, 20then your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’ 40While your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” And the king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it.” 41Then he hastily took the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him that he was of the prophets. 42He said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore 21your 22life shall go for his 23life, and your people for his people.’” 43So 24the king of Israel went to his house sullen and vexed, and came to Samaria.