³⁵At the Lord’s command a member of a group of prophets ordered a fellow-prophet to hit him. But he refused, ³⁶^*so he said to him, “Because you have disobeyed the Lord’s command, a lion will kill you as soon as you leave me.” And as soon as he left, a lion came along and killed him.

³⁷Then this same prophet went to another man and said, “Hit me!” This man did so; he hit him a hard blow and hurt him. ³⁸The prophet bandaged his face with a cloth, to disguise himself, and went and stood by the road, waiting for the king of Israel to pass. ³⁹As the king was passing by, the prophet called out to him and said, “Your Majesty, I was fighting in the battle when a soldier brought a captured enemy to me and said, ‘Guard this man; if he escapes, you will pay for it with your life or else pay a fine of three thousand pieces of silver.’ ⁴⁰But I got busy with other things, and the man escaped.”

The king answered, “You have pronounced your own sentence, and you will have to pay the penalty.”

⁴¹The prophet tore the cloth from his face, and at once the king recognized him as one of the prophets.

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Cross references

*20.36: 1 K 13:24