1 Kings 13
1 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.
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 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]
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 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.’”
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 prophet, “Come home with me and eat some food. And I will also give you a reward [for what you have done]!”
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 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,
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 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.”
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 started to return home, but he did not go on the road on which he came to Bethel. He went on a different road.
So he went by another way, and returned not by the way on which he was come to Beth-el.
11 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.
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 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].
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 Then he said to his sons, “Put a saddle on my donkey.” So they did that, and he got on the donkey.
And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass, and he rode away thereon,
14 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.”
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 The old prophet said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.”
Then said he unto him, Come with me home, and eat bread.
16 He replied, “No, I am not allowed to go with you into your house, or to eat or drink anything with you,
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 because Yahweh told me, ‘Do not eat or drink anything here, and do not return home on the road on which 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 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].
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 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.
So he returned with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.
20 While they were sitting at the table, Yahweh spoke to the old man.
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 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.
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 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.’”
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 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].
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 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.
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 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.
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 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!”
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 Then he said to his sons, “Put a saddle on my donkey.” So they did that.
And he spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.
28 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.
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 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.
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 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!”
And he laid his corpse in his own sepulchre; and they lamented over him, “Alas, my brother!”
31 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.
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 [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.”
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 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.
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 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.
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.
