1 Kings 13
13
The Man of God Speaks Against Bethel
1The Lord commanded a man of God from Judah to go to Bethel. When he arrived, Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer a sacrifice. 2The Lord had commanded the man of God to speak against the altar. The man said, “Altar, the Lord says to you: ‘David’s family will have a son named Josiah. He will kill the priests of the places of worship. They now make their sacrifices on you. But Josiah will sacrifice those priests on you. Human bones will be burned on you.’” 3The man of God gave proof that these things would happen. He said, “This is God’s sign that this will happen. This altar will break apart. And the ashes on it will fall onto the ground.”
4King Jeroboam heard what the man of God said about the altar in Bethel. So Jeroboam raised his hand from the altar and pointed at the man. “Capture him!” he said. But when the king said this, his arm became paralyzed. He could not move it. 5Also, the altar broke into pieces. All its ashes fell onto the ground. This was the sign the Lord had told the man of God to give.
6Then the king said to the man of God, “Please pray to the Lord your God for me. Ask him to heal my arm.”
So the man of God prayed to the Lord. And the king’s arm was healed. It became as it was before.
7Then the king said to the man of God, “Please come home and eat with me. I will give you a gift.”
8But the man of God answered the king, “I will not go home with you! Even if you gave me half of your kingdom, I would not go! I will not eat or drink anything in this place. 9The Lord commanded me not to eat or drink anything. He also commanded me not to return on the same road by which I came.” 10So he traveled on a different road. He did not return on the same road by which he had come to Bethel.
11Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel. His sons came and told him what the man of God had done there that day. They told their father what he had said to King Jeroboam. 12The father asked, “Which road did he use when he left?” So his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken. 13The prophet told his sons to put a saddle on his donkey. So they saddled the donkey, and he left.
14He went after the man of God. He found the man sitting under an oak tree. The prophet asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
The man answered, “Yes, I am.”
15So the prophet said, “Please come home and eat with me.”
16But the man of God answered, “I can’t go home with you. I can’t eat or drink with you in this place. 17The Lord said to me, ‘You must not eat or drink anything there. And you must not return on the same road by which you came.’”
18Then the old prophet said, “But I also am a prophet like you.” Then he told a lie. He said, “An angel from the Lord came to me. He told me to bring you to my home. He said you should eat and drink with me.” 19So the man of God went to the old prophet’s house. And he ate and drank with him there.
20While they were sitting at the table, the Lord spoke his word to the old prophet. 21The old prophet cried out to the man of God from Judah. He said, “The Lord said you did not obey him! He said you did not do what the Lord your God commanded you. 22The Lord commanded you not to eat or drink anything in this place. But you came back and ate and drank. So your body will not be buried in your family grave.”
23The man of God finished eating. Then the prophet put a saddle on his donkey for him. And the man left. 24As he was traveling on the road home, a lion attacked and killed him. His body lay on the road. The donkey and the lion stood near it. 25Some men were traveling on that road. They saw the body and the lion standing near it. So they went to the city where the old prophet lived. And they told what they had seen.
26The old prophet who had brought the man of God back heard about what had happened. He said, “It is the man of God who did not obey the Lord’s command. So the Lord sent a lion to kill him. The Lord said he would do this.”
27Then the prophet said to his sons, “Put a saddle on my donkey.” So they did. 28The old prophet went out and found the body lying on the road. The donkey and the lion were still standing near it. The lion had not eaten the body. And it had not hurt the donkey. 29So the prophet put the body on his donkey. And he carried it back to the city. There he would have a time of sadness for him and bury him. 30The prophet buried the body in his own family grave. And he was sad for the man of God. He said, “Oh, my brother.”
31So the prophet buried the body. Then he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in this same grave. Put my bones next to his. 32Through him the Lord spoke against the altar at Bethel. And he spoke against the places of worship in the towns of Samaria. And what the Lord spoke through him will certainly come true.”
33But King Jeroboam did not stop doing evil things. He continued to choose priests for the places of worship from all the people. Anyone who wanted to be a priest for the places of worship was allowed. 34In this way the kingdom of Jeroboam sinned. And that sin caused its ruin and destruction from the earth.
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1 Kings 13: ICB
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3 Kings 13
13
1And, behold, there came a man of God out of Juda, by the word of the Lord to Bethel, when Jeroboam was standing upon the altar, and burning incense.
2And he cried out against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said: O Altar, Altar, thus saith the Lord: Behold, a child shall be born to the house of David, Josias by name. And he shall immolate upon thee the priests of the high places, who now burn incense upon thee: and he shall burn men's bones upon thee.
3And he gave a sign the same day, saying: This shall be the sign, that the Lord hath spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent; and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.
4And when the king had heard the word of the man of God, which he had cried out against the altar in Bethel, he stretched forth his hand from the altar, saying: Lay hold on him. And his hand which he stretched forth against him withered: and he was not able to draw it back again to him.
5The altar also was rent: and the ashes were poured out from the altar: according to the sign which the man of God had given before in the word of the Lord.
6And the king said to the man of God: Entreat the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me. And the man of God besought the face of the Lord: and the king's hand was restored to him; and it became as it was before.
7And the king said to the man of God: Come home with me to dine, and I will make thee presents.
8And the man of God answered the king: If thou wouldst give me half thy house I will not go with thee, nor eat bread, nor drink water in this place:
9For so it was enjoined me by the word of the Lord commanding me: Thou shalt not eat bread nor drink water, nor return by the same way that thou camest.
10So he departed by another way, and returned not by the way that he came into Bethel.
11Now a certain old prophet dwelt in Bethel: and his sons came to him and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. And they told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.
12And their father said to them: What way went he? His sons shewed him the way by which the man of God went, who came out of Juda.
13And he said to his sons: Saddle me the ass. And when they had saddled him, he got up,
14And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under a turpentine-tree. And he said to him: Art thou the man of God that camest from Juda? He answered: I am.
15And he said to him: Come home with me, to eat bread.
16But he said: I must not return, nor go with thee; neither will I eat bread, nor drink water in this place.
17Because the Lord spoke to me in the word of the Lord, saying: Thou shalt not eat bread, and thou shalt not drink water there, nor return by the way thou wentest.
18He said to him: I also am a prophet like unto thee. And an angel spoke to me in the word of the Lord, saying: Bring him back with thee into thy house, that he may eat bread, and drink water. He deceived him,
19And brought him back with him. So he ate bread and drank water in his house.
20And as they sat at table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet that brought him back.
21And he cried out to the man of God who came out of Juda, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast not been obedient to the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee,
22And hast returned and eaten bread, and drunk water in the place wherein he commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat bread, nor drink water, thy dead body shall not be brought into the sepulchre of thy fathers.
23And when he had eaten and drunk, he saddled his ass for the prophet, whom he had brought back.
24And when he was gone, a lion found him in the way, and killed him. And his body was cast in the way; and the ass stood by him; and the lion stood by the dead body.
25And behold, men passing by saw the dead body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city, wherein that old prophet dwelt.
26And when that prophet, who had brought him back out of the way, heard of it, he said: It is the man of God, that was disobedient to the mouth of the Lord; and the Lord hath delivered him to the lion; and he hath torn him, and killed him according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to him.
27And he said to his sons: Saddle me an ass. And when they had saddled it,
28And he was gone, he found the dead body cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass. The lion had not eaten of the dead body, nor hurt the ass.
29And the prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass: and going back brought it into the city of the old prophet, to mourn for him.
30And he laid his dead body in his own sepulchre: and they mourned over him, saying: Alas! alas! my brother.
31And when they had mourned over him, he said to his sons: When I am dead, bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.
32For assuredly the word shall come to pass which he hath foretold in the word of the Lord against the altar that is in Bethel: and against all the temples of the high places, that are in the cities of Samaria.
33After these words Jeroboam came not back from his wicked way: but on the contrary he made of the meanest of the people priests of the high places. Whosoever would, he filled his hand: and he was made a priest of the high places.
34And for this cause did the house of Jeroboam sin: and was cut off and destroyed from the face of the earth.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.