< 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.
Look, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of YHWH to Beth El: and Jeroboam was standing by 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.”
He cried against the altar by the word of YHWH, and said, "Altar, altar, thus says YHWH: 'Look, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. On you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men's bones 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.”
He gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which YHWH has spoken: Look, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will 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.
It happened, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him." His hand, which he put out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again 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 split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which 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.
The king answered the man of God, "Now plead for the favor of YHWH your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again." The man of God entreated YHWH, and the king's hand was restored 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.”
The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."
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.
The man of God said to the king, "Even if you gave me half of your house, I would not go in with you, 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 commanded me by the word of YHWH, saying, 'You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, neither 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.
So he went another way, and did not return by the way that he came 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 there lived an old prophet in Bethel; and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. And they also told their father the words which 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.
Their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" Now his sons showed him the way the man of God went, who came from Judah.
13 “Saddle up a donkey for me,” he told his sons. They saddled up a donkey and he got on.
He said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode 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.
He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" He said, "I am."
15 “Come home with me and have something to eat,” he told him.
Then he said to him, "Come home 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.
He said, "I may not return with you, nor go in with you; neither will I eat bread nor 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 it was said to me by the word of YHWH, 'You shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that 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.
He said to him, "I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by the word of YHWH, saying, 'Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" He lied to him.
19 So the man of God went back with him, and ate and drank in his house.
So he went back 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.
It happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of YHWH came 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 cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says YHWH, 'Because you have been disobedient to the mouth of YHWH, and have not kept the commandment which YHWH your God commanded 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.”
but came back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, "Eat no bread, and drink no water"; your body shall not come to the tomb 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.
It happened, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey 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.
When he had gone, a lion met him by the way, and killed him. His body was cast in the way, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood 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.
Look, men passed by, and saw the body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.
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.”
When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who was disobedient to the mouth of YHWH. Therefore YHWH has delivered him to the lion, which has mauled him and slain him, according to the word of YHWH, which he spoke to him."
27 The prophet told his sons, “Saddle up a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey,
He spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." 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.
He went and found his body cast in the way, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body, nor mauled 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.
The prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. And he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him.
30 He laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him, crying, “My poor brother!”
He laid his body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, "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.
It happened, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, "When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb in which the man of God is buried. Lay 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 the saying which he proclaimed by the word of YHWH against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely happen."
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 did not return from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people. He consecrated anyone who wanted to be a priest at 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.
This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.