³³ The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now,^(A) but I would have spared it.”

²⁴ As he went on his way, a lion^(A) met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. ²⁵ Some people who passed by saw the body lying there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.

²⁶ When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who defied^(B) the word of the Lord. The Lord has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the Lord had warned him.”

²⁷ The prophet said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they did so. ²⁸ Then he went out and found the body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had neither eaten the body nor mauled the donkey.

³³ They went down alive into the realm of the dead,^(A) with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. ³⁴ At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”

³⁵ And fire came out from the Lord^(B) and consumed^(C) the 250 men who were offering the incense.

³⁷ these men who were responsible for spreading the bad report^(A) about the land were struck down and died of a plague^(B) before the Lord.