32. Wearing sackcloth round their waists and ropes round their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, ‘Your servant Ben-Hadad says: “Please let me live.” ’The king answered, ‘Is he still alive? He is my brother.’
33. The men took this as a good sign and were quick to pick up his word. ‘Yes, your brother Ben-Hadad!’ they said.‘Go and get him,’ the king said. When Ben-Hadad came out, Ahab brought him up into his chariot.
34. ‘I will return the cities my father took from your father,’ Ben-Hadad offered. ‘You may set up your own market areas in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.’Ahab said, ‘On the basis of a treaty I will set you free.’ So he made a treaty with him, and let him go.
35. By the word of the Lord one of the company of the prophets said to his companion, ‘Strike me with your weapon,’ but he refused.
36. So the prophet said, ‘Because you have not obeyed the Lord, as soon as you leave me a lion will kill you.’ And after the man went away, a lion found him and killed him.
37. The prophet found another man and said, ‘Strike me, please.’ So the man struck him and wounded him.
38. Then the prophet went and stood by the road waiting for the king. He disguised himself with his headband down over his eyes.
39. As the king passed by, the prophet called out to him, ‘Your servant went into the thick of the battle, and someone came to me with a captive and said, “Guard this man. If he is missing, it will be your life for his life, or you must pay a talent of silver.”
40. While your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared.’‘That is your sentence,’ the king of Israel said. ‘You have pronounced it yourself.’
41. Then the prophet quickly removed the headband from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognised him as one of the prophets.
42. He said to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says: “You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people.” ’
43. Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went to his palace in Samaria.