1 Kings 13
13
A Man of God From Judah
1A man of God went from Judah to Bethel. He had received a message from the Lord. He arrived in Bethel just as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer a sacrifice. 2The man cried out. He shouted a message from the Lord against the altar. He said, “Altar! Altar! The Lord says, ‘A son named Josiah will be born into the royal family of David. Altar, listen to me! Josiah will sacrifice the priests of the high places on you. They will be the children of the priests who are offering sacrifices here. So human bones will be burned on you.’ ” 3That same day the man of God spoke about a miraculous sign. He said, “Here is the sign the Lord has announced. This altar will be broken to pieces. The ashes on it will be spilled out.”
4The man of God announced that message against the altar at Bethel. When King Jeroboam heard it, he reached out his hand from the altar. He said, “Grab him!” But as he reached out his hand toward the man, it dried up. He couldn’t even pull it back. 5Also, the altar broke into pieces. Its ashes spilled out. That happened in keeping with the miraculous sign the man of God had announced. He had received a message from the Lord.
6King Jeroboam spoke to the man of God. He said, “Pray to the Lord your God for me. Pray that my hand will be as good as new again.” So the man of God prayed to the Lord for the king. And the king’s hand became as good as new. It was just as healthy as it had been before.
7The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me for a meal. I’ll give you a gift.”
8But the man of God replied to the king. He said, “What if you were to give me half of what you own? Even then I wouldn’t go with you. I wouldn’t eat bread or drink water here. 9The Lord gave me a command. He said, ‘Do not eat bread or drink water there. Do not return the same way you came.’ ” 10So he took another road. He didn’t go back on the same road he had taken when he came to Bethel.
11An old prophet was living in Bethel. His sons came and spoke to him. They told him everything the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what the man had said to the king. 12Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” His sons showed him the road the man of God from Judah had taken. 13So he said to his sons, “Put a saddle on the donkey for me.” When they had done it, he got on the donkey. 14He traveled on the same road the man of God had taken. He found the man sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
“I am,” he replied.
15So the prophet said to him, “Come home with me. I’ll give you something to eat.”
16The man of God said, “I can’t go back to Bethel with you. I can’t eat bread or drink water with you there. 17I’ve received a message from the Lord. He told me, ‘Do not eat bread or drink water there. Do not return the same way you came.’ ”
18The old prophet answered, “I’m also a prophet, just like you. An angel gave me a message from the Lord. The message said, ‘Bring the man of God back with you to your house. Then he can eat bread and drink water with you.’ ” But the old prophet was telling him a lie. 19The man of God returned with him. He ate and drank in his house.
20They were sitting at the table. The Lord gave a message to the old prophet who had brought the man of God back. 21He cried out to the man who had come from Judah. He told him, “The Lord says, ‘You have not done what I told you to do. You have not obeyed the command I gave you. I am the Lord your God. 22You came back here and ate bread and drank water. You did it in the place where I told you not to. So your body will not be buried in your family tomb.’ ”
23The man of God finished eating and drinking. Then the old prophet who had brought him back put a saddle on the man’s donkey for him. 24And the man went on his way. A lion attacked him on the road and killed him. His body was left lying on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing beside it. 25Some people passed by. They saw the body lying on the road. They saw the lion standing beside the body. Then they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.
26The prophet who had brought the man back from his journey heard about what had happened. He said, “It’s the man of God. He didn’t do what the Lord told him to do. So the Lord has given him over to the lion. The lion has attacked him and killed him. Everything has happened just as the Lord’s message had warned him it would.”
27The old prophet said to his sons, “Put a saddle on the donkey for me.” So they did. 28Then he went out. He found the body of the man of God lying on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing beside it. The lion hadn’t eaten the body. It hadn’t attacked the donkey either. 29So the prophet picked up the man’s body. He put it on the donkey. He brought it back to his own city. He wanted to mourn for him and bury him. 30Then he placed the body in his own tomb. People mourned for him. They said, “Oh, no, my friend! My dear friend!”
31After the old prophet had buried the man of God, he spoke to his sons. He said, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Put my bones next to his bones. 32I want you to do that because he announced a message from the Lord. He spoke against the altar in Bethel. He also spoke against all the temples that are on the high places. They are in the towns of Samaria. What the man of God said will certainly come true.”
33Even after all of that happened, Jeroboam still didn’t change his evil ways. Once more he appointed priests for the high places. He made priests out of all kinds of people. In fact, he let anyone become a priest who wanted to. He set them apart to serve at the high places. 34All of that was the great sin the royal family of Jeroboam committed. It led to their fall from power. Because of it, they were destroyed from the face of the earth.
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1 Kings 13: NIrV
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1 Kings 13
13
Judgment on Jeroboam
1A man of God#1Kg 12:22; 2Kg 23:17 came, however, from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord while Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense.#1Kg 12:32–33 2The man of God cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord: “Altar, altar, this is what the Lord says, ‘A son will be born to the house of David, named Josiah, and he will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who are burning incense on you. Human bones will be burned on you.’”#2Kg 23:15–16 3He gave a sign#Is 7:14 that day. He said, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘The altar will now be ripped apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.’”#Jn 2:11,18
4When the king heard the message that the man of God had cried out against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Arrest him!” But the hand he stretched out against him withered, and he could not pull it back to himself. 5The altar was ripped apart, and the ashes poured from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.
6Then the king responded to the man of God, “Plead for the favor of the Lord your God and pray for me#Jms 5:16 so that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God pleaded for the favor of the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it had been at first.
7Then the king declared to the man of God, “Come home with me, refresh yourself, and I’ll give you a reward.”#1Sm 9:7; 2Kg 5:15
8But the man of God replied, “If you were to give me half your house,#Nm 22:18; Est 5:3; Mk 6:23 I still wouldn’t go with you, and I wouldn’t eat food or drink water in this place, 9for this is what I was commanded by the word of the Lord:#1Kg 13:1 ‘You must not eat food or drink water or go back the way you came.’” 10So he went another way; he did not go back by the way he had come to Bethel.
The Old Prophet and the Man of God
11Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel.#1Kg 12:32; 13:1 His son#13:11 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Vg read sons came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. His sons also told their father the words that he had spoken to the king.#1Kg 13:2–6 12Then their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” His sons had seen#13:12 LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg read sons showed him the way taken by the man of God who had come from Judah. 13Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he got on it. 14He followed the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
“I am,” he said.
15Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.”
16But he answered, “I cannot go back with you or accompany you; I will not eat food or drink water with you in this place. 17For a message came to me by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat food or drink water there#1Kg 13:8–9 or go back by the way you came.’”
18He said to him, “I am also a prophet#1Jn 4:1 like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat food and drink water.’” The old prophet deceived him,#Dt 13:1–3 19and the man of God went back with him, ate food in his house, and drank water.
20While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back, 21and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you rebelled against the Lord’s command and did not keep the command that the Lord your God commanded you — 22but you went back and ate food and drank water in the place that he said to you, “Do not eat food and do not drink water”#1Kg 13:8–9 — your corpse will never reach the grave of your ancestors.’”#1Kg 13:30
23So after he had eaten food and after he had drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back. 24When he left,#13:23–24 LXX reads donkey, and he turned 24 and left, and a lion attacked#13:24 Lit met him along the way and killed him.#1Kg 20:36 His corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it; the lion was standing beside the corpse too.
25There were men passing by who saw the corpse thrown on the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and spoke about it in the city where the old prophet lived. 26When the prophet who had brought him back from his way heard about it, he said, “He is the man of God who disobeyed the Lord’s command. The Lord has given him to the lion, and it has mauled and killed him, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke to him.”
27Then the old prophet instructed his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” They saddled it,#1Kg 13:13 28and he went and found the corpse thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse or mauled the donkey. 29So the prophet lifted the corpse of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back. The old prophet came into the city to mourn and to bury him. 30Then he laid the corpse in his own grave,#1Kg 13:22,24 and they mourned over him, “Oh, my brother!” #Jr 22:18
31After he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones, 32for the message that he cried out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel#1Kg 13:1–3 and against all the shrines of the high places#1Kg 12:31–32; 2Kg 17:29 in the cities of Samaria#1Kg 16:28–29,32 is certain to happen.”#2Kg 23:16
33Even after this,#1Kg 13:1–6,24 Jeroboam did not repent#1Kg 12:28–33; 13:1; Ac 26:20 of his evil way but again made priests for the high places from the ranks of the people.#1Kg 12:31 He ordained whoever so desired it, and they became priests of the high places.#Jdg 17:5; 2Ch 13:9 34This was the sin that caused the house of Jeroboam to be cut off and obliterated from the face of the earth.#1Kg 12:28–33; 2Kg 17:21–23
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