4. The king of Israel accepted the terms: “As you say, distinguished lord; I and everything I have is yours.”
7. The king of Israel called a meeting of all his tribal elders. He said, “Look at this—outrageous! He’s just looking for trouble. He means to clean me out, demanding all my women and children. And after I already agreed to pay him off handsomely!”
8. The elders, backed by the people, said, “Don’t cave in to him. Don’t give an inch.”
9. So he sent an envoy to Ben-Hadad, “Tell my distinguished lord, ‘I agreed to the terms you delivered the first time, but this I can’t do—this I won’t do!’”The envoy went back and delivered the answer.
38-40. Then the prophet went and took a position along the road, with a bandage over his eyes, waiting for the king. It wasn’t long before the king happened by. The man cried out to the king, “Your servant was in the thick of the battle when a man showed up and turned over a prisoner to me, saying, ‘Guard this man with your life; if he turns up missing you’ll pay dearly.’ But I got busy doing one thing after another and the next time I looked he was gone.”The king of Israel said, “You’ve just pronounced your own verdict.”
41. At that, the man ripped the bandage off his eyes and the king recognized who he was—one of the prophets!
42. The man said to the king, “God’s word: Because you let a man go who was under sentence by God, it’s now your life for his, your people for his.”
43. The king of Israel went home in a sulk. He arrived in Samaria in a very bad mood.