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, 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.
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 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.’”
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 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.”
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.”
Then the king said to the man of God: “Come home with me, so that you may dine. And I will give you gifts.”
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 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.
9 The Lord ordered me not to eat or drink anything, and not to return by the way I came.”
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.’”
10 So he went a different way—he did not return the way he had come to Bethel.
Then he departed by another way, and he did not return along the way that he had traveled to Bethel.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 the donkey for me.” And when they had saddled it, he climbed on,
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 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.”
15 “Come home with me and have something to eat,” he told him.
And he said to him, “Come home with me, so that you may 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.
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.
17 “The Lord ordered me, saying ‘You must not eat or drink anything there, or return by the way you came.’”
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.”
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, 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.
19 So the man of God went back with him, and ate and drank in his house.
And he led him back with him. Then 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 while they were sitting at table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had led 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 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,
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.”
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.”
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 when he had eaten and had drunk, he saddled his donkey for the prophet whom he had led back.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.”
27 The prophet told his sons, “Saddle up a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey,
And he said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” And when they had 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 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.
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.
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.
30 He laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him, crying, “My poor brother!”
And he placed his dead body in his own sepulcher. And they mourned for him, saying: “Alas! Alas! My 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 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.
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 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.”
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.
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.
34 This was because of this sin that the house of Jeroboam was wiped out, completely destroyed from the face of the earth.
And for this reason, the house of Jeroboam sinned, and was uprooted, and was wiped from the face of the earth.
