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.
1 Kings 13
13
Judgment on Jeroboam
1A man of God # 1Kg 12:22; 2Kg 23:17 came from Judah to Bethel by a revelation from 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 a revelation from 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 word 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 bread 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 bread 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 # 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 said to them, “Which way did he go? ” His sons had seen # 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 bread.”
16But he answered, “I cannot go back with you, eat bread, or drink water with you in this place, 17for a message came to me by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread 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 bread and drink water.’ ” The old prophet deceived him, # Dt 13:1-3 19and the man of God went back with him, ate bread 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 command of the Lord and did not keep the command that the Lord your God commanded you — 22but you went back and ate bread and drank water in the place that He said to you, “Do not eat bread and do not drink water” — # 1Kg 13:8-9 your corpse will never reach the grave of your fathers.’ ” # 1Kg 13:30
23So after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back. 24When he left, # LXX reads donkey, and he turned 24 and left, and a lion attacked # 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 command of the Lord. 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 of the man of God 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 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, you must bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones, 32for the word that he cried out by a revelation from 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
33After all 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 set up priests for the high places from every class of 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 wiped out and annihilated from the face of the earth. # 1Kg 12:28-33; 2Kg 17:21-23
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