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
1 Kings 13
13
1 Kings 13
1¶ And, behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel; and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
2And he cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, O altar, altar, thus hath the Lord said: Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.
3And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes with the burnt fat that are upon it shall be poured out.
4And when King Jeroboam heard the word of the man of God, who had cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
5The altar also was rent, and the ashes with the burnt fat were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.
6Then the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the Lord thy God and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored him again and became as it was before.
7And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a gift.
8But the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thy house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place,
9for so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread nor drink water nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.
10So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.
11¶ Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken unto the king.
12And their father said unto them, What way did he go? And his sons showed him the way the man of God had gone, who had come from Judah.
13And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass, and he rode thereon
14and went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak; and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that didst come from Judah? And he said, I am.
15Then he said unto him, Come home with me and eat bread.
16And he said, I may not return with thee nor go in with thee; neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place,
17for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
18And the other said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art, and an angel spoke unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thy house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.
19So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.
20And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back,
21and he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus hath the Lord said, Forasmuch as thou hast rebelled against the mouth of the Lord and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee,
22but didst come back and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
23¶ And when he had eaten of the bread and after he had drunk, the prophet that had brought him back saddled an ass for him,
24and as he went, a lion met him by the way and slew him, and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, and the lion also stood by the carcase.
25And, behold, men passed by and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26And when the prophet that had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, It is the man of God, who rebelled against the word of the Lord; therefore, the Lord has delivered him unto the lion, who has torn him and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke unto him.
27And he spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle me an ass. And they saddled it for him.
28And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase; the lion had not eaten the carcase nor torn the ass.
29And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God and laid it upon the ass and brought it back. And the old prophet came to the city to mourn and to bury him.
30And he laid his carcase in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!
31And 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 in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.
32For that which he proclaimed 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 return from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places; whoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.
34And this became the cause of sin unto the house of Jeroboam for which it was cut off and destroyed from off the face of the earth.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International