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, a man of God has come from Judah, by the word of YHWH, to Beth-El, and Jeroboam is standing by the altar—to make 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 calls against the altar, by the word of YHWH, and says, “Altar! Altar! Thus said YHWH: Behold, a son is born to the house of David—Josiah [is] his name—and he has sacrificed on you the priests of the high places who are making incense on you, and bones of man are burned on you.”
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 has given a sign on that day, saying, “This [is] the sign that YHWH has spoken, Behold, the altar is torn, and the ashes that [are] on it [are] poured forth.”
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 comes to pass, at the king’s hearing the word of the man of God that he calls against the altar in Beth-El, that Jeroboam puts forth his hand from off the altar, saying, “Catch him”; and his hand that he has put forth against him is dried up, and he is not able to bring 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 is torn, and the ashes [are] poured forth from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of YHWH.
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 answers and says to the man of God, “Please appease the face of your God YHWH, and pray for me, and my hand comes back to me”; and the man of God appeases the face of YHWH, and the hand of the king comes back to him, and it is as at the beginning.
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 speaks to the man of God, “Come in with me to the house, and refresh yourself, and I give a gift to you.”
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 says to the king, “If you give to me the half of your house, I do not go in with you, nor do I eat bread, nor do I 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 He commanded me by the word of YHWH, saying, You do not eat bread nor drink water, nor return in the way that you have come.”
10 So he went a different way—he did not return the way he had come to Bethel.
And he goes on in another way, and has not turned back in the way in which he came in 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.
And a certain aged prophet is dwelling in Beth-El, and his son comes and recounts to him every deed that the man of God has done today in Beth-El, the words that he has spoken to the king—indeed, they recount them 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 says to them, “Where [is] this—the way he has gone?” And his sons see the way that the man of God who came from Judah has gone.
13 “Saddle up a donkey for me,” he told his sons. They saddled up a donkey and he got on.
And he says to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddle the donkey for him, and he rides on 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 goes after the man of God, and finds him sitting under the oak, and says to him, “Are you the man of God who has come from Judah?” And he says, “I [am].”
15 “Come home with me and have something to eat,” he told him.
And he says to him, “Come with me to the house 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 says, “I am not able to return with you, and to go in with you, nor do I eat bread or drink water with you 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 [there is] a word to me by the word of YHWH, You do not eat bread nor drink water there [and] you do not return to go in the way in which you came.”
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 says to him, “I [am] also a prophet like you, and a messenger spoke to me by the word of YHWH, saying, Bring him back with you to your house, and he eats bread and drinks water.” He has lied to him.
19 So the man of God went back with him, and ate and drank in his house.
And he turns back with him, and eats bread in his house, and drinks 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 comes to pass—they are sitting at the table—and [there] is a word of YHWH to the prophet who 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 calls to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus said YHWH: Because that you have provoked the mouth of YHWH, and have not kept the command that your God YHWH charged 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 turn back and eat bread and drink water in the place of which He said to you, You do not eat bread nor drink water—your carcass does not come into the burying-place 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 it comes to pass, after his eating bread, and after his drinking, that he saddles the donkey for him, 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 he goes, and a lion finds him in the way, and puts him to death, and his carcass is cast in the way, and the donkey is standing near it, and the lion is standing near the carcass.
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 are passing by, and see the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing near the carcass, and they come and speak [of it] in the city in which the old prophet is dwelling.
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 who brought him back out of the way hears and says, “It [is] the man of God who provoked the mouth of YHWH, and YHWH gives him to the lion, and it destroys him, and puts him to death, according to the word of YHWH that he spoke to him.”
27 The prophet told his sons, “Saddle up a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey,
And he speaks to his sons saying, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddle [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 goes and finds his carcass cast in the way, and the donkey and the lion are standing near the carcass—the lion has not eaten the carcass nor destroyed 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.
And the prophet takes up the carcass of the man of God, and places it on the donkey, and brings it back, and the old prophet comes to the city to mourn and to bury him,
30 He laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him, crying, “My poor brother!”
and he places his carcass in his own grave, and they mourn for him, “Oh, 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 comes to pass, after his burying him, that he speaks to his sons, saying, “At my death—you have buried me in the burying-place in which the man of God is buried; place my bones near 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 certainly comes to pass that he called by the word of YHWH concerning the altar which [is in] Beth-El, and concerning all the houses of the high places that [are] in 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 this thing Jeroboam has not turned from his evil way, and turns back, and makes priests of high places from the extremities of the people; he who is desirous—he consecrates his hand, and he is 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 in this thing is the sin of the house of Jeroboam, even to cut [it] off, and to destroy [it] from off the face of the ground.
