When he had gone, a lion met him by the way and killed him. His body was thrown on the path, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body. Behold, men passed by, and saw the body thrown on the path, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived. He went and found his body thrown on the path, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body, nor mauled the donkey.
A lion killed a man but then peacefully stood beside the body and a donkey for days without eating either one.
Zoology
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The cited passage
What current science says
Lions are apex predators that kill to eat. A lion that has just made a kill will typically begin feeding within minutes and can consume up to 30 kg (66 lbs) of meat in a single sitting. They also have strong prey drive toward donkeys and similar animals. A lion standing peacefully next to an uneaten carcass and a live donkey for multiple days contradicts every known predatory behavior pattern. In reality, a lion would eat the human, then probably eat the donkey too.
What the text says
This comes from 1 Kings 13:24-25, 28. After a lion killed a disobedient prophet, it just stood next to the carcass and the man's donkey without attacking or eating — as if the lion had very specific divine instructions.
Three honest ways to read this passage
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As history
The text records how its authors understood the world with the knowledge they had. Read this way, a difference from modern science is a window into the ancient mind, not a failure.
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As accommodation
The text speaks to its first audience in their own terms, to make a point that isn't mainly about physics or biology. Read this way, the scientific detail is the vehicle, not the cargo.
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As contradiction
The text makes a claim about the physical world that modern findings dispute. Read this way, the difference is a genuine factual disagreement worth naming.
GEBible doesn't pick one of these for you. Each entry shows the passage, what it says, and what current science says — nothing more.