1 Kings 13
1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Beth-el; and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer.
One day a prophet, obeying what Yahweh commanded him to do, went from Judah [north] to Bethel. He arrived there right at the time that Jeroboam was standing at the altar, ready to burn incense.
2 And he cried against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said: 'O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD: Behold, a son shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places that offer upon thee, and men's bones shall they burn upon thee.'
Saying what Yahweh told him to say, the prophet shouted, “This is what Yahweh says [about this] altar [APO]: ‘I want you to know that [some day] a descendant [MTY] of King David will be born. His name will be Josiah, and he will come here. He will slaughter at this altar the priests who are burning incense for sacrifices on the hills [in this area], and he will burn the bones of dead people on this altar.’” [APO]
3 And he gave a sign the same day saying: 'This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.'
Then the prophet also said, “This is what will prove to you that Yahweh has said this: This altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be scattered.’”
4 And it came to pass, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Beth-el, that Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying: 'Lay hold on him.' And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to him.
When King Jeroboam heard the prophet say that, he pointed his finger at him and said to his servants, “Seize that man!” But immediately the king’s arm became paralyzed/stiff, with the result that he could not move it.
5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.
And the altar immediately split apart, and the ashes spilled out [on the ground], which is what the prophet said that Yahweh [MTY] had predicted would happen.
6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God: 'Entreat now the favour of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me.' And the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored him, and became as it was before.
Then the king said to the prophet, “Please pray that Yahweh will be merciful to me and heal my arm!” So the prophet prayed, and Yahweh completely healed the king’s arm.
7 And the king said unto the man of God: 'Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.'
Then the king said to the prophet, “Come home with me and eat some food. And I will also give you a reward [for what you have done]!”
8 And the man of God said unto the king: 'If thou wilt give me half thy house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place.
But the prophet replied, “Even if you would [promise to] give me half of everything that you own [MTY], I will not go with you, and I will not eat or drink anything with you here,
9 For it so was charged me by the word of the LORD, saying: Thou shalt eat no bread, nor drink water, neither return by the way that thou camest.'
because Yahweh commanded me not to eat or drink anything here. He also commanded me not to return home on the road on which I came here.”
10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el.
So he started to return home, but he did not go on the road on which he came to Bethel. He went on a different road.
11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el; and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Beth-el, and the words which he had spoken unto the king, and they told them unto their father.
At that time there was an old man living in Bethel who was a prophet. His sons came and told him what the prophet [from Judah] had done there on that day, and they also told him what the prophet had said to the king.
12 And their father said unto them: 'What way went he?' For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, that came from Judah.
Their father said, “On which road did he go?” So his sons showed him the road on which the prophet from Judah had gone [when he left Bethel].
13 And he said unto his sons: 'Saddle me the ass.' So they saddled him the ass; and he rode thereon.
Then he said to his sons, “Put a saddle on my donkey.” So they did that, and he got on the donkey.
14 And he went after the man of God, and found him sitting under a terebinth; and he said unto him: 'Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah?' And he said: 'I am.'
He went along the road to (find/catch up with) the prophet from Judah. He found him sitting under an oak tree. He said to him, “Are you the prophet who came from Judah?” He replied, “Yes, I am.”
15 Then he said unto him: 'Come home with me, and eat bread.'
The old prophet said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.”
16 And he said: 'I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee; neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place.
He replied, “No, I am not allowed to go with you into your house, or to eat or drink anything with you,
17 For it was said to me by the word of the LORD: Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn back to go by the way that thou camest.'
because Yahweh told me, ‘Do not eat or drink anything here, and do not return home on the road on which you came.’”
18 And he said unto him: 'I also am a prophet as thou art; and an angel spoke unto me by the word of the LORD, saying: Bring him back with thee into thy house, that he may eat bread and drink water.' — He lied unto him. —
Then the old prophet said to him, “I also am a prophet, like you are. Yahweh sent an angel to tell me that I should take you home with me and give you some food and drink.” But the old man was lying [when he said that].
19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.
But because of what the old prophet said, the prophet from Judah returned with him to his home and ate some food and drank some water with him.
20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back.
While they were sitting at the table, Yahweh spoke to the old man.
21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying: 'Thus saith the LORD: Forasmuch as thou hast rebelled against the word of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,
Then he cried out to the prophet from Judah, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘You have disobeyed him, and you have not done what he commanded you to do.
22 but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to thee: Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.'
Instead, you have come back here and had things to eat and drink in a place where he commanded you not to do that. As a result, you will be killed, and your body will not be buried in the grave where your ancestors are buried.’”
23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, namely, for the prophet whom he had brought back.
When they had finished eating, the old man put a saddle on the donkey for the prophet from Judah, [and the prophet from Judah left].
24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him; and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it; the lion also stood by the carcass.
But as he was going, a lion met him and killed him. The prophet’s corpse was lying on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it, and the lion was also standing beside the corpse.
25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
Some men passed by and were surprised to see the corpse on the road and the lion standing next to the corpse. So they went into Bethel and reported what they had seen.
26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said: 'It is the man of God, who rebelled against the word of the LORD; therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke unto him.'
When the old man who had brought the prophet from Judah to his home heard about it, he said, “That is the prophet who disobeyed what Yahweh told him to do! That is why Yahweh allowed the lion to attack him and kill him. That is what Yahweh said would happen!”
27 And he spoke to his sons, saying: 'Saddle me the ass.' And they saddled it.
Then he said to his sons, “Put a saddle on my donkey.” So they did that.
28 And he went and found his carcass cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass; the lion had not eaten the carcass, nor torn the ass.
Then he rode on the donkey and found the prophet’s corpse on the road, and his donkey and the lion were still standing there alongside the corpse. But the lion had not eaten any of the flesh of the prophet and had not attacked the donkey.
29 And the prophet took up the carcass 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, and to bury him.
The old man picked up the corpse of the prophet and put it on his donkey and brought it back to Bethel, in order to mourn for him and to bury his corpse.
30 And he laid his carcass in his own grave; and they made lamentation for him: 'Alas, my brother!'
He buried the prophet’s corpse in the grave where other people in his family [had been buried]. Then he and his sons mourned for him, saying, “[We are very sorry], my brother!”
31 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; lay my bones beside his bones.
After they had buried him, the old man said to his sons, “When I die, bury my corpse in the grave where we buried the prophet from Judah. Lay my corpse next to his corpse.
32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.'
[And do not forget what he said, because] the things that Yahweh told him to say about the altar in Bethel, and about the shrines on the hills in the towns in Samaria, will surely happen.”
33 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again from among all the people priests of the high places; whosoever would, he consecrated him, that he might be one of the priests of the high places.
But King Jeroboam still did not turn away from continuing to do evil things. Instead, he appointed more priests [who were not descended from Levi]. Anyone who wanted to be a priest, he appointed to be a priest, in order that he could offer sacrifices on the hills.
34 And by this thing there was sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.
Because he committed that sin, [a few years later] God got rid of most of Jeroboam’s descendants and did not allow them to become kings of Israel.
