[20:35] At the Lord's command a member of a group of prophets ordered a fellow prophet to hit him. But he refused,
[20:36] 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.
[20:37] Then this same prophet went to another man and said, “Hit me!” This man did so; he hit him a hard blow and hurt him.
[20:38] The 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.
[20:39] As 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.’
[20:40] But 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.”
[20:41] The prophet tore the cloth from his face, and at once the king recognized him as one of the prophets.
[20:42] The prophet then said to the king, “This is the word of the Lord: ‘Because you allowed the man to escape whom I had ordered to be killed, you will pay for it with your life, and your army will be destroyed for letting his army escape.’”
[20:43] The king went back home to Samaria, worried and depressed.