1 Kings 13
13
1And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. 2And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and he shall sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and men's bones shall be burned upon you.’ ” 3And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.’ ” 4And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Lay hold of him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. 5The altar also was torn down, 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. 6And the king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the Lord; and the king's hand was restored to him, and became as it was before. 7And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” 8And the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place; 9for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way that you came.’ ” 10So he went another way, and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.
11Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel. And his sons#13.11 Gk Syr Vg: Heb son came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words also which he had spoken to the king, they told to their father. 12And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone. 13And he said to his sons, “Saddle the ass for me.” So they saddled the ass for him and he mounted it. 14And he went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak; and he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” 15Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16And he said, “I may not return with you, or go in with you; neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place; 17for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’ ” 18And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” But he lied to him. 19So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.
20And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back; 21and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, 22but have come back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread, and drink no water”; your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’ ” 23And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the ass for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24And as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the ass stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body. 25And behold, men passed by, and saw the body thrown in the road, and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God, who disobeyed the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and slain him, according to the word which the Lord spoke to him.” 27And he said to his sons, “Saddle the ass for me.” And they saddled it. 28And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the ass and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the ass. 29And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back to the city,#13.29 Gk: Heb he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him. 30And he laid the body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” 31And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.”
33After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people; any who would, he consecrated to be priests of the high places. 34And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
1 Kings 13
13
Prophets condemn Jeroboam
A prophet condemns the altar at Bethel
1-2One day, Jeroboam was standing at the altar in Bethel, ready to make an offering. Suddenly one of God's prophets#13.1,2 one of God's prophets: Hebrew “a man of God”. arrived from Judah and shouted:#2 K 23.15,16.
The LORD sent me with a message about this altar. A child named Josiah will be born into David's family. He will sacrifice on this altar the priests who make offerings here, and human bones will be burnt on it.
3You will know that the LORD has said these things when the altar splits in half, and the ashes on it fall to the ground.
4Jeroboam pointed at the prophet and shouted, “Grab him!” But straight away, Jeroboam's hand became stiff, and he could not move it. 5The altar split in half, and the ashes fell to the ground, just as the prophet had warned.
6“Please pray to the LORD your God and ask him to heal my hand,” Jeroboam begged.
The prophet prayed, and Jeroboam's hand was healed.
7“Come home with me and eat something,” Jeroboam said. “I want to give you a gift for what you have done.”
8“No, I wouldn't go with you, even if you offered me half of your kingdom. I won't eat or drink here either. 9The LORD said I can't eat or drink anything and that I can't go home the same way I came.” 10Then he started home down a different road.
An old prophet from Bethel
11At that time an old prophet lived in Bethel, and one of his sons told him what the prophet from Judah had said and done.
12“Show me which way he went,” the old prophet said, and his sons pointed out the road. 13“Put a saddle on my donkey,” he told them. After they did, he got on the donkey 14and rode off to look for the prophet from Judah.
The old prophet found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the prophet from Judah?”
“Yes, I am.”
15“Come home with me,” the old prophet said, “and have something to eat.”
16“I can't go back with you,” the prophet replied, “and I can't eat or drink anything with you. 17The LORD warned me not to eat or drink or to go home the same way I came.”
18The old prophet said, “I'm a prophet too. One of the LORD's angels told me to take you to my house and give you something to eat and drink.”
The prophet from Judah did not know that the old prophet was lying, 19so he went home with him and ate and drank.
20During the meal the LORD gave the old prophet 21a message for the prophet from Judah:
Listen to the LORD's message. You have disobeyed the LORD your God. 22He told you not to eat or drink anything here, but you came home and ate with me. And so, when you die, your body won't be buried in your family tomb.
23After the meal the old prophet got a donkey ready, 24and the prophet from Judah left. Along the way, a lion attacked and killed him, and the donkey and the lion stood there beside his dead body.
25Some people walked by and saw the body with the lion standing there. They ran into Bethel, telling everyone what they had seen.
26When the old prophet heard the news, he said, “That must be the prophet from Judah. The LORD warned him, but he disobeyed. So the LORD sent a lion to kill him.”
27The old prophet told his sons to saddle his donkey, and when it was ready, 28he left. He found the body lying on the road, with the donkey and lion standing there. The lion had not eaten the body or attacked the donkey. 29The old prophet picked up the body, put it on his own donkey, and took it back to Bethel, so he could bury it and mourn for the prophet from Judah.
30He buried the body in his own family tomb and cried for the prophet. 31He said to his sons, “When I die, bury my body next to this prophet. 32I'm sure that everything he said about the altar in Bethel and the shrines in Samaria will happen.”
33But Jeroboam kept on doing evil things. He appointed men to be priests at the local shrines, even if they were not Levites. In fact, anyone who wanted to be a priest could be one. 34This sinful thing led to the downfall of his kingdom.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012