³⁰And they that remained fled to Aphec, into the city: and the wall fell upon seven and twenty thousand men, that were left. And Benadad fleeing, went into the city, into a chamber that was within a chamber.

³¹And his servants said to him: Behold, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful; so let us put sackcloths on our loins, and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: perhaps he will save our lives.

³²So they girded sackcloths on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said to him: Thy servant, Benadad, saith: I beseech thee let me have my life. And he said: If he be yet alive, he is my brother.

³³The men took this for good luck: and in haste caught the word out of his mouth, and said: Thy brother Benadad. And he said to them: Go, and bring him to me. Then Benadad came out to him, and he lifted him up into his chariot.

³⁴And he said to him: The cities which my father took from thy father, I will restore: and do thou make thee streets in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria and having made a league, I will depart from thee. So he made a league with him, and let him go.

³⁵Then a certain man of the sons of the prophets, said to his companion, in the word of the Lord: Strike me. But he would not strike.

³⁶Then he said to him: Because thou wouldst not hearken to the word of the Lord, behold thou shalt depart from me, and a lion shall slay thee. And when he was gone a little from him, a lion found him, and slew him.

³⁷Then he found another man, and said to him: Strike me. And he struck him and wounded him.

³⁸So the prophet went, and met the king in the way, and disguised himself by sprinkling dust on his face and his eyes.

³⁹And as the king passed by, he cried to the king, and said: Thy servant went out to fight hand to hand: and when a certain man was run away, one brought him to me, and said: Keep this man: and if he shall slip away, thy life shall be for his life, or thou shalt pay a talent of silver.

⁴⁰And whilst I, in the hurry, turned this way and that, on a sudden he was not to be seen. And the king of Israel said to him: This is thy judgment, which thyself hast decreed.

⁴¹But he forthwith wiped off the dust from his face, and the king of Israel knew him, that he was one of the prophets.

⁴²And he said to him: Thus saith the Lord. Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man worthy of death, thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for his people.

Read in Logos

Public Domain