1 Kings 20:30–42

³⁰The rest of them fled into the city of Aphek, where the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the remaining men. Ben-hadad also fled to the city and hid in an inner room.

³¹Then the servants of Ben-hadad said to him, “Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful. Let us go out to the king of Israel with sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads. Perhaps he will spare your life.”

³²So with sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please spare my life.’”

And the king answered, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”

³³Now the men were looking for a sign of hope, and they quickly grasped at this word and replied, “Yes, your brother Ben-hadad.”

“Go and get him!” said the king.

Then Ben-hadad came out, and Ahab had him come up into his chariot.

³⁴Ben-hadad said to him, “I will restore the cities my father took from your father; you may set up your own marketplaces in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.”

“By this treaty^d I release you,” Ahab replied. So he made a treaty with him and sent him away.

³⁵Meanwhile, by the word of the LORD, one of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, “Strike me, please!”

But the man refused to strike him.

³⁶Then the prophet said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, as soon as you depart from me a lion will kill you.”

And when he left, a lion found him and killed him.

³⁷Then the prophet found another man and said, “Strike me, please!”

So the man struck him and wounded him, ³⁸and the prophet went and waited on the road for the king, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes.

³⁹As the king passed by, he cried out to the king: “Your servant had marched out into the middle of the battle, when suddenly a man came over with a captive and told me, ‘Guard this man! If he goes missing for any reason, your life will be exchanged for his life, or you will weigh out a talent of silver.^e’ ⁴⁰But while your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared.”

And the king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you have pronounced it on yourself.”

⁴¹Then the prophet quickly removed the bandage from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.

⁴²And the prophet said to the king, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because you have let slip from your hand the man I had devoted to destruction,^f your life will be exchanged for his life, and your people for his people.’”