1 Kings 20:28-40

²⁸Then the man of God came to the king of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says: Because the Arameans have said, ‘The Lord is only a god of the mountains and not of the valleys,’ I will make you victorious over the whole of this massive army. Then you will be convinced that I am the Lord.”

²⁹The armies camped opposite each other for seven days. On the seventh day the battle took place. The Israelites killed 100,000 of the Aramean infantry in one day.

³⁰The rest ran away to the town of Aphek, where a wall collapsed on 27,000 of those that remained. Ben-hadad also ran to the town and hid in an inside room.

³¹Ben-hadad's officers said to him, “Look, we've heard that the Israelite kings are merciful. Let's surrender to the king of Israel, wearing sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads. Maybe he will let you live.”

³²So wearing sackcloth around their waists and ropes on their heads, they went and surrendered to the king of Israel, and told him, “Your servant Ben-hadad asks, ‘Please let me live.’” The king replied “Is he still alive? I think of him as my brother.”

³³The men thought this was a good sign and they immediately took the king at his word, saying, “Yes, Ben-hahad is your brother.” “Go and fetch him!” said the king. So Ben-hadad came out of hiding and surrendered to Ahab, who pulled him up into his chariot.

³⁴Ben-hadad said to him, “I will return the towns my father took from your father, and you can organize your own places for trade in Damascus, like my father did in Samaria.” “By making this agreement I set you free,” Ahab replied. He made a treaty with Ben-hadad and let him go.

³⁵Following a message he received from the Lord, one of the sons of the prophets said to his colleague, “Please hit me.” But the man refused to hit him.

³⁶So the prophet told him, “Since you have not done what the Lord said, once you leave me a lion is going to kill you.” When the man left, a lion came and killed him.

³⁷The prophet found another man and said, “Please hit me!” So the man hit him, wounding him.

³⁸Then the prophet went and stood beside the road, waiting for the king. He had disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes.

³⁹As the king was passing by, he shouted out to the king: “Your servant had gone out fighting right in the middle of the battle, when all of a sudden a man came over with a prisoner and told me, ‘Guard this man! If for any reason he escapes, you will pay for his life with your life, or you will be fined a talent of silver.’

⁴⁰But while your servant was busy with other things, the man got away.” “So that will be your punishment then,” the king of Israel told him. “You have sentenced yourself.”