1 Kings 13
1 And behold, by the word of the Lord, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel, when Jeroboam was standing over the altar, and burning incense.
And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Beth-el: while Jerobo'am was standing upon the altar to burn incense.
2 And by the word of the Lord, he cried out against the altar. And he said: “O altar, O altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. And upon you, he will immolate the priests of the high places, who now burn incense upon you. And upon you, he will burn up the bones of men.’”
And he called out against the altar by the word of the Lord, and he said, O altar, altar, thus hath said the Lord, Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice upon thee the priests of the high-places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.
3 And he gave a sign on the same day, saying: “This will be the sign that the Lord has spoken. Behold, the altar shall be torn apart, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.”
And he gave on the same day a token, saying, This is the token that the Lord hath spoken, Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes which are upon it shall be spilled about.
4 And when the king had heard the word of the man of God, which he had cried out against the altar at Bethel, he extended his hand from the altar, saying, “Apprehend him!” But his hand, which he had extended against him, withered. And he was unable to draw it back to himself.
And it came to pass, when the king heard the word of the man of God, which he had called out against the altar in Beth-el, that Jerobo'am stretched forth his hand from off the altar, saying, Seize him. And his hand, which he had put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself.
5 Also, the altar was torn apart, and the ashes were poured out from the altar, in accord with the sign that the man of God had predicted by the word of the Lord.
The altar also was rent, and the ashes were spilled about from the altar, according to the token which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.
6 And the king said to the man of God, “Entreat the face of the Lord your God, and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God prayed before the face of the Lord, and the hand of the king was restored to him, and it became as it had been before.
And the king commenced and said unto the man of God, Offer but entreaty before the Lord thy God, and pray in behalf of me, that my hand may return to me again. And the man of God offered his entreaty before the Lord, and the king's hand returned to him again, and became as it was before.
7 Then the king said to the man of God: “Come home with me, so that you may dine. And I will give you gifts.”
And the king spoke unto the man of God, Come home with me, and take some refreshment, and I will give thee a present.
8 And the man of God responded to the king: “Even if you will give me one half part of your house, I will not go with you, nor eat bread, nor drink water in this place.
But the man of God said unto the king, If thou wert to give me the half of thy house, I would not go in with thee, neither would I eat bread nor drink water in this place;
9 For so it was commanded to me by the word of the Lord, ordering: ‘You shall not eat bread, and you shall not drink water, nor shall you return by the way that you came.’”
For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Thou shalt not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way that thou camest.
10 Then he departed by another way, and he did not return along the way that he had traveled to Bethel.
So he went by another way, and returned not by the way on which he was come to Beth-el.
11 Now a certain elderly prophet was living in Bethel. His sons went to him, and they described to him all the works which the man of God had accomplished on that day in Bethel. And they described to their father the words that he had spoken to the king.
Now there dwelt a certain old prophet in Beth-el; and his son came and told him all the deed that the man of God had done that day in Beth-el: the words [also] which he had spoken unto the king, these too they told to their father.
12 And their father said to them, “By which way did he depart?” His sons showed him the way by which the man of God, who had come from Judah, had departed.
And their father spoke unto them, What way did he go? His sons however had seen what way had gone the man of God, who had come from Judah.
13 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And when they had saddled it, he climbed on,
And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass, and he rode away thereon,
14 and he went away after the man of God. And he found him sitting under a terebinth tree. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he responded, “I am.”
And he went after the man of God, and found him sitting under the oak; and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.
15 And he said to him, “Come home with me, so that you may eat bread.”
Then said he unto him, Come with me home, and eat bread.
16 But he said: “I am not able to turn back, nor to go with you. Neither will I eat bread, or drink water in this place.
And he said, I cannot return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place;
17 For the Lord has spoken to me, by the word of the Lord, saying, “You shall not eat bread, and you shall not drink water in that place, nor shall you return by the way that you arrived.”
For a command came to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt not eat bread nor drink water there; thou shalt not return to go by the way [also] by which thou camest.
18 And he said to him: “I, too, am a prophet like you. And an Angel spoke to me, by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Lead him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread, and drink water.’” And so he deceived him.
And he said unto him, I also am a prophet like thee; and an angel spoke unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee unto thy house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.
19 And he led him back with him. Then he ate bread and drank water in his house.
So he returned with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.
20 And while they were sitting at table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had led him back.
And it came to pass, as they were sitting at the table, That the word of the Lord came unto the prophet who had brought him back;
21 And he cried out to the man of God who had arrived from Judah, saying: “Thus says the Lord: Because you were not obedient to the mouth of the Lord, and you did not keep the commandment that the Lord your God instructed to you,
And he called unto the man of God that was come from Judah, saying, Thus hath said the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the order of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God had commanded thee;
22 and you turned back, and ate bread, and drank water in the place where he commanded you that you should not eat bread, nor drink water: your dead body shall not be carried back to the sepulcher of your fathers.”
But didst return, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of which he had spoken to thee, Thou shalt not eat bread, nor drink water: thy dead body shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
23 And when he had eaten and had drunk, he saddled his donkey for the prophet whom he had led back.
And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, [to wit, ] for the prophet whom he had brought back.
24 And when he had departed, a lion found him along the way, and it killed him, and his dead body was left upon the road. Now the donkey was standing beside him. And the lion was standing beside the dead body.
And when he was gone, a lion met him on the way, and slew him; and his corpse remained cast down on the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the corpse.
25 And behold, men who were passing by saw the dead body lying in the road, with the lion standing beside the body. And they went and made it widely known in the city where that elderly prophet was living.
And, behold, men passed by, and saw the corpse cast down on the way, and the lion standing by the corpse; and they came and spoke of it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26 And when that prophet, who had led him back from the way, had heard it, he said: “It is the man of God, who was disobedient to the mouth of the Lord. And the Lord has delivered him to the lion. And it has torn him apart and killed him, in accord with the word of the Lord, which he spoke to him.”
And when the prophet that had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, It is the man of God who was disobedient unto the order of the Lord; wherefore the Lord hath given him up unto the lion, who hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken unto him.
27 And he said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” And when they had saddled it,
And he spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.
28 and he had departed, he found the dead body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the dead body. The lion did not eat from the dead body, nor did it harm the donkey.
And he went and found his corpse cast down on the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the corpse: the lion had not eaten the corpse, nor torn the ass.
29 Then the prophet took the dead body of the man of God, and he placed it upon the donkey, and returning, he brought it into the city of the elderly prophet, so that he might mourn for him.
And the prophet took up the corpse of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back; and he came to the city of the old prophet, to lament for, and to bury him.
30 And he placed his dead body in his own sepulcher. And they mourned for him, saying: “Alas! Alas! My brother!”
And he laid his corpse in his own sepulchre; and they lamented over him, “Alas, my brother!”
31 And when they had mourned over him, he said to his sons: “When I will have died, bury me in the sepulcher in which the man of God was buried. Place my bones beside his bones.
And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; beside his bones lay ye my bones;
32 For certainly, the word will arrive, which he predicted by the word of the Lord, against the altar, which is in Bethel, and against all the shrines of the high places, which are in the cities of Samaria.”
For the thing which he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar which is in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high-places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass.
33 After these words, Jeroboam did not turn back from his very evil way. Instead, to the contrary, he made priests for the high places out of the least of the people. Whosoever was willing, he filled his hand, and he became a priest of the high places.
After this event Jerobo'am returned not from his evil way; but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high-places: whosoever desired it, he consecrated, that he might become one of the priests of the high-places.
34 And for this reason, the house of Jeroboam sinned, and was uprooted, and was wiped from the face of the earth.
And he became through this thing the cause of sin unto the house of Jerobo'am, and to cause that it was blotted out, and destroyed from off the face of the earth.
