1 Kings 13
1 Then a man of God came from Judah by the order of the Lord to Beth-el, where Jeroboam was by the altar, burning offerings.
A man of God came out of Judah by the word of Yahweh to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.
2 And by the order of the Lord he made an outcry against the altar, saying, O altar, altar, the Lord has said, From the seed of David will come a child, named Josiah, and on you he will put to death the priests of the high places, who are burning offerings on you, and men's bones will be burned on you.
He cried against the altar by the word of Yahweh: “Altar, altar! This is what Yahweh says, 'See, a son named Josiah will be born to the family of David, and on you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now burn incense on you. On you they will burn human bones.'”
3 The same day he gave them a sign, saying, This is the sign which the Lord has given: See, the altar will be broken and the burned waste on it overturned.
Then the man of God gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that Yahweh has spoken: 'Look, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes on it will be poured out.'”
4 Then the king, hearing the man of God crying out against the altar at Beth-el, put out his hand from the altar, saying, Take him prisoner. And his hand, stretched out against him, became dead, and he had no power of pulling it back.
When the king heard what the man of God said, that he had cried out against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam reached out with his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” Then the hand with which he had reached out against the man dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself.
5 And the altar was broken and the burned waste on it overturned; this was the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.
(The altar was also split apart and the ashes poured out from the altar, as described by the sign that the man of God had given by the word of Yahweh.)
6 Then the king made answer and said to the man of God, Make a prayer now for the grace of the Lord your God, and for me, that my hand may be made well. And in answer to the prayer of the man of God, the king's hand was made well again, as it was before.
King Jeroboam answered and said to the man of God, “Plead for the favor of Yahweh your God and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored to me again.” So the man of God prayed to Yahweh, and the king's hand was restored to him again, and it became as it was before.
7 And the king said to the man of God, Come with me to my house for food and rest, and I will give you a reward.
The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”
8 But the man of God said to the king, Even if you gave me half of all you have, I would not go in with you, and I would not take food or a drink of water in this place;
The man of God said to the king, “Even if you give me half your possessions, I will not go with you, nor will I eat food or drink water in this place,
9 For so I was ordered by the word of the Lord, who said, You are not to take food or a drink of water, and you are not to go back the way you came.
because Yahweh commanded me by his word, 'You will eat no bread nor drink water, nor return by the way that you came.'”
10 So he went another way, and not by the way he came to Beth-el.
So the man of God left another way and did not return to his home by the way that he had come to Bethel.
11 Now there was an old prophet living in Beth-el; and one of his sons came and gave him word of all the man of God had done that day in Beth-el, and they gave their father an account of the words he had said to the king.
Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel, and one of his sons came and told him all the things that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. His sons also told him the words that the man of God had spoken to the king.
12 Then their father said to them, Which way did he go? Now his sons had seen which way the man of God who came from Judah had gone.
Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” Now his sons had seen the way the man of God from Judah had gone.
13 So the prophet said to his sons, Make ready an ass for me. So they made an ass ready, and he got on it,
So he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey and he rode off on it.
14 And went after the man of God, and came up with him while he was seated under an oak-tree. And he said to him, Are you the man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am.
The old prophet went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree; and he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He answered, “I am.”
15 Then he said to him, Come back to the house with me and have a meal.
Then the old prophet said to him, “Come home with me and eat food.”
16 But he said, I may not go back with you or go into your house; and I will not take food or a drink of water with you in this place;
The man of God answered, “I may not return with you nor go in with you, neither will I eat food nor drink water with you in this place,
17 For the Lord said to me, You are not to take food or water there, or go back again by the way you came.
because it was commanded to me by the word of Yahweh, 'You will eat no food nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.'”
18 Then he said to him, I am a prophet like you; and an angel said to me by the word of the Lord, Take him back with you and give him food and water. But he said false words to him.
So the old prophet said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, 'Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat food and drink water.'” But he was lying to the man of God.
19 So he went back with him, and had a meal in his house and a drink of water.
So the man of God went back with the old prophet and ate food in his house and drank water.
20 But while they were seated at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had taken him back;
As they sat at the table, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who had brought him back,
21 And crying out to the man of God who came from Judah, he said, The Lord says, Because you have gone against the voice of the Lord, and have not done as you were ordered by the Lord,
and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Yahweh says, 'Because you have been disobedient to the word of Yahweh and have not kept the command that Yahweh your God gave you,
22 But have come back, and have taken food and water in this place where he said you were to take no food or water; your dead body will not be put to rest with your fathers.
but came back and have eaten food and drunk water in the place about which Yahweh told you to eat no food and drink no water, your body will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.'”
23 Now after the meal he made ready the ass for him, for the prophet whom he had taken back.
After he had eaten food and after he had drunk, the prophet saddled the donkey of the man of God, the man who had come back with him.
24 And he went on his way; but on the road a lion came rushing at him and put him to death; and his dead body was stretched in the road with the ass by its side, and the lion was there by the body.
When the man of God was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left on the road. Then the donkey stood by it, and the lion also stood by the body.
25 And some men, going by, saw the body stretched out in the road with the lion by its side; and they came and gave news of it in the town where the old prophet was living.
When men passed by and saw the body left on the road, and the lion standing by the body, they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.
26 Then the prophet who had made him come back, hearing it, said, It is the man of God, who went against the word of the Lord; that is why the Lord has given him to the lion to be wounded to death, as the Lord said.
When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of Yahweh. Therefore Yahweh gave him to the lion, which tore him to pieces and killed him, just as the word of Yahweh warned him.”
27 And he said to his sons, Make ready the ass for me. And they did so.
So the old prophet spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle my donkey,” and they saddled it.
28 And he went and saw the dead body stretched out in the road with the ass and the lion by its side: the lion had not taken the body for its food or done any damage to the ass.
He went and found the body left in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body, nor attacked the donkey.
29 Then the prophet took up the body of the man of God and put it on the ass and took it back; and he came to the town to put the body to rest with weeping.
The prophet took up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to his own city to mourn and to bury him.
30 And he put the body in the resting-place made ready for himself, weeping and sorrowing over it, saying, O my brother!
He laid the body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, “Woe, my brother!”
31 And when he had put it to rest, he said to his sons, When I am dead, then you are to put my body into the earth with the body of this man of God, and put me by his bones so that my bones may be kept safe with his bones.
Then after he had buried him, the old prophet spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, bury me in the tomb in which the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.
32 For the outcry he made by the word of the Lord against the altar in Beth-el and against all the houses of the high places in the towns of Samaria, will certainly come about.
For the message he declared by the word of Yahweh, against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses on the high places in the cities of Samaria, will certainly happen.”
33 After this Jeroboam, not turning back from his evil ways, still made priests for his altars from among all the people; he made a priest of anyone desiring it, so that there might be priests of the high places.
After this Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but continued to appoint common priests for the high places from among all sorts of people. Any who would serve he consecrated as a priest.
34 And this became a sin in the family of Jeroboam, causing it to be cut off and sent to destruction from the face of the earth.
This matter became sin to the family of Jeroboam and caused his family to be destroyed and to be exterminated from the face of the earth.
