A prophet warns King Ahab
35 At this time, the Lord gave a message to a prophet who belonged to a group of prophets. He told the prophet to say to one of his friends, ‘Hit me with your stick.’ But his friend refused to do it. 36 So the prophet said to him, ‘You have not obeyed the Lord's command. Because of that, a lion will kill you as soon as you leave here.’ After the man left the prophet, a lion attacked him and it killed him.
20:35The prophet wanted people to think that someone had hurt him in the battle.
37 Then the prophet found another man. He said to him, ‘Please hit me!’ So the man hit him. He hurt the prophet very much. 38 Then the prophet went and he stood beside the road. He was waiting for king Ahab to come. He tied a cloth over his eyes so that the king would not recognize him.
39 When the king came along the road, the prophet shouted to him, ‘Please sir, I went to fight in the middle of the battle. Then someone brought an enemy soldier to me as a prisoner. He said to me, “Keep this prisoner safe. If he escapes for any reason, you will die! To save your life, you will have to pay 3,000 silver coins.” 40 But I had other things to do, sir. While I was doing them, the prisoner escaped.’
King Ahab replied, ‘What you have just said shows that you deserve your punishment.’
41 Then the prophet quickly took away the cloth that covered his eyes. The king recognized that the man was one of the prophets. 42 The prophet said to the king, ‘This is what the Lord says to you: “I decided that a man should die, but you have let him go free. So you must pay for his life with your life. Your people will receive the trouble that his people deserved.” ’
43 So King Ahab of Israel went home to his palace in Samaria. He was angry and upset.
