1 Kings 13
1 The Lord ordered a man of God from Judah to go to Bethel. He arrived just as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar about to present a burnt offering.
And behold, there came a man of God out of Juda by the word of the Lord to Baethel, and Jeroboam stood at the altar to sacrifice.
2 He shouted out the Lord's condemnation of the altar: “Altar, altar, this is what the Lord says. A son will be born to the house of David. His name will be Josiah, and on you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn offerings on you, and human bones will be burned on you.”
And he cried against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord, Behold, a son is [to be] born to the house of David, Josias by name; and he shall offer upon thee the priests of the high places, [even] of them that sacrifice upon thee, and [he] shall burn men's bones upon thee.
3 The same day the man of God gave a sign, saying, “This is the sign to prove that the Lord has spoken. Look! The altar will be split apart, and the ashes on it will spill out.”
And in that day one shall give a sign, saying, This [is] the word which the Lord has spoken, saying, Behold, the altar is rent, and the fatness upon it shall be poured out.
4 When King Jeroboam heard the condemnation the man of God had shouted out against the altar in Bethel, he pointed his hand at him and said, “Arrest him!” But the hand the king had pointed at him had become paralyzed and he couldn't draw it back.
And it came to pass when king Jeroboam heard the words of the man of God who called on the altar that was in Baethel, that the king stretched forth his hand from the altar, saying, Take hold of him. And, behold, his hand, which he stretched forth against him, withered, and he could not draw it back to himself.
5 The altar split apart, and the ashes spilled out from it, fulfilling the sign that the man of God had given from the Lord.
And the altar was rent, and the fatness was poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God gave by the word of the Lord.
6 Then the king said to the man of God, “Please plead with the Lord your God—pray for me that I may have my hand back!” The man of God pleaded with the Lord, and the king was given back the use of his hand as it was before.
And king Jeroboam said to the man of God, Intreat the Lord thy God, and let my hand be restored to me. And the man of God intreated the Lord, and he restored the king's hand to him, and it became as before.
7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come to my home and have a meal so I can give you a present.”
And the king said to the man of God, Enter with me into the house, and dine, and I will give thee a gift.
8 But the man of God told the king, “Even if you gave me half of everything you own, I still wouldn't go with you. In fact I refuse to eat or drink anything in this place.
And the man of God said to the king, If thou shouldest give me the half of thine house, I would not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread, neither will I drink water in this place; for thus the Lord charged me by [his] word, saying,
9 The Lord ordered me not to eat or drink anything, and not to return by the way I came.”
Eat no bread, and drink no water, and return not by the way by which thou camest.
10 So he went a different way—he did not return the way he had come to Bethel.
So he departed by another way, and returned not by the way by which he came to Baethel.
11 It so happened that an old prophet lived in Bethel. His sons came and told him everything the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father what the man had said to the king.
And there dwelt an old prophet in Baethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God did on that day in Baethel, and the words which he spoke to the king: and they turned the face of their father.
12 “Which way did he go?” their father asked them. So his sons showed him the way taken by the man of God from Judah.
And their father spoke to them, saying, Which way went he? and his sons shew him the way by which the man of God who came out of Juda went up.
13 “Saddle up a donkey for me,” he told his sons. They saddled up a donkey and he got on.
And he said to his sons, Saddle me the ass: and they saddled him the ass, and he mounted it,
14 He rode after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” he asked him. “Yes I am,” the man replied.
and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said to him, Art thou the man of God that came out of Juda? And he said to him, I [am].
15 “Come home with me and have something to eat,” he told him.
And he said to him, Come with me, and eat bread.
16 “I can't turn around and go with you, and I won't eat or drink with you in this place,” the man of God replied.
And he said, I shall not by any means be able to return with thee, neither will I eat bread, neither will I drink water in this place.
17 “The Lord ordered me, saying ‘You must not eat or drink anything there, or return by the way you came.’”
For thus the Lord commanded me by word, saying, Eat not bread there, and drink not water, and return not thither by the way by which thou camest.
18 But the old prophet told him, “I am also a prophet, just like you. An angel told me God said, ‘Take him home with you so that he can have something to eat and drink’” But he was lying to him.
And he said to him, I also am a prophet as thou [art]; and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back to thee into thy house, and let him eat bread and drink water: but he lied to him.
19 So the man of God went back with him, and ate and drank in his house.
And he brought him back, and he ate bread and drank water in his house.
20 As they were sitting at the table, a message from the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back.
And it came to pass while they were sitting at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet that brought him back;
21 He called out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not followed the orders that the Lord your God gave you,
and he spoke to the man of God that came out of Juda, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Because thou hast resisted the word of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee,
22 instead you went back and ate and drank in the place where he told you not to, your body will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.”
but hast returned, and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he spoke to thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat bread, and shalt not drink water; [therefore] thy body shall in nowise enter into the sepulchre of thy fathers.
23 After the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his own donkey for him.
And it came to pass after he had eaten bread and drunk water, that he saddled the ass for him, and he turned and departed.
24 But as he went on his way a lion came across him on the road and killed him. His body was left lying in the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it.
And a lion found him in the way, and slew him; and his body was cast out in the way, and the ass was standing by it, and the lion [also] was standing by the body.
25 Some passers-by saw the body lying in the road with the lion standing beside it, so they went and let people know about it in the town where the old prophet lived.
And, behold, men [were] passing by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion was standing near the carcase: and they went in and spoke [of it] in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26 When the old prophet who had led the other astray heard what had happened, he said, “It's the man of God who disobeyed the Lord's orders. That's why the Lord put him in the path of the lion, and it has mauled him and killed him, just as the Lord told him would happen.”
And [the prophet] that turned him back out of the way heard, and said, This is the man of God who rebelled against the word of the Lord.
27 The prophet told his sons, “Saddle up a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey,
[And he spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass, and they saddled it. ]
28 and he went and found the body. It was still lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body or attacked the donkey.
And he went and found the body cast in the way, and the ass and the lion were standing by the body: and the lion had not devoured the body of the man of God, and had not torn the ass.
29 The prophet picked up the body of the man of God, placed it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own town to mourn over him and bury him.
And the prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it on his ass; and the prophet brought him back to his city, to bury him in his own tomb,
30 He laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him, crying, “My poor brother!”
and they bewailed him, [saying], Alas, brother.
31 After he'd buried him, he told his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.
And it came to pass after he had lamented him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, Whenever I die, bury me in this tomb wherein the man of God is buried; lay me by his bones, that my bones may be preserved with his bones.
32 For the message from the Lord that he gave in condemnation against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria, will definitely happen.”
For the word will surely come to pass which he spoke by the word of the Lord against the altar in Baethel, and against the high houses in Samaria.
33 But even after all this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways. He went on choosing priests from all kinds of people. He appointed anyone who wanted to be a priest of the high places.
And after this Jeroboam turned not from his sin, but he turned and made of part of the people priests of the [high places]: whoever would, he consecrated him, and he became a priest for the high places.
34 This was because of this sin that the house of Jeroboam was wiped out, completely destroyed from the face of the earth.
And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to its destruction and its removal from the face of the earth.
