1 Kings 13
1 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;
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 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.”
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 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.”
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 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,
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 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.
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 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.
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 speaks to the man of God, “Come in with me to the house, and refresh yourself, and I give a gift to you.”
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 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;
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 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.”
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 And he goes on in another way, and has not turned back in the way in which he came in 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 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.
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 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.
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 says to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddle the donkey for him, and he rides on it,
Then he said to his sons, “Put a saddle on my donkey.” So they did that, and he got on the donkey.
14 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].”
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 And he says to him, “Come with me to the house and eat bread.”
The old prophet said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.”
16 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,
He replied, “No, I am not allowed to go with you into your house, or to eat or drink anything with you,
17 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.”
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 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.
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 And he turns back with him, and eats bread in his house, and drinks 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 comes to pass—they are sitting at the table—and [there] is a word of YHWH to the prophet who brought him back,
While they were sitting at the table, Yahweh spoke to the old man.
21 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,
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 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.”
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 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,
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.”
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 speaks to his sons saying, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddle [it].
Then he said to his sons, “Put a saddle on my donkey.” So they did that.
28 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.
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 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,
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 places his carcass in his own grave, and they mourn for him, “Oh, 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 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;
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 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.”
[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 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.
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 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.
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.
