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 Judah by the word of the Lord unto Beth-el: while Jerobo'am was standing upon the altar to burn 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 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 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 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 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 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 The altar split apart, and the ashes spilled out from it, fulfilling the sign that the man of God had given from 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 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 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 to my home and have a meal so I can give you a present.”
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 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.
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 The Lord ordered me not to eat or drink anything, and not to return by the way I 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 So he went a different way—he did not return the way he had come to Bethel.
So he went by another way, and returned not by the way on which he was come to Beth-el.
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 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 “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 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 “Saddle up a donkey for me,” he told his sons. They saddled up a donkey and he got on.
And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass, and he rode away thereon,
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 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 “Come home with me and have something to eat,” he told him.
Then said he unto him, Come with me home, 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 cannot return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee 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 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 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 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 So the man of God went back with him, and ate and drank in his house.
So he returned with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.
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, as they were sitting at the table, That the word of the Lord came unto the prophet who had 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 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 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 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 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 after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, [to wit, ] for the prophet whom he had brought 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 him.
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 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 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 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 He laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him, crying, “My poor brother!”
And he laid his corpse in his own sepulchre; and they lamented over him, “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 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 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 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 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 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 This was because of this sin that the house of Jeroboam was wiped out, completely destroyed 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.
