1 Kings 13

¹ A man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.

² He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD and said, "Altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: A son will be born to the house of David—Josiah by name—and on you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones will be burned on you."

³ He gave a sign that same day, saying, "This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: The altar will be torn apart, and the ashes on it will be poured out."

⁴ When the king heard the word of the man of God that he cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him!" But his hand that he stretched out against him withered, and he could not draw it back to himself.

⁵ The altar was torn apart and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

⁶ The king answered and said to the man of God, "Please entreat the favor of the LORD your God and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me." The man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him and became as it was before.

⁷ The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a gift."

⁸ But the man of God said to the king, "Even if you gave me half your house, I would not go with you, and I would not eat bread or drink water in this place.

⁹ For this is what was commanded me by the word of the LORD: You must not eat bread or drink water, and you must not return by the way you came."

¹⁰ So he went by another road and did not return by the road he had come to Bethel.

¹¹ Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words he had spoken to the king.

¹² Their father said to them, "Which road did he go?" His sons had seen the road the man of God from Judah had taken.

¹³ He said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." They saddled the donkey for him, and he rode on it.

¹⁴ He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. He said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" He said, "I am."

¹⁵ He said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread."

¹⁶ He said, "I cannot turn back with you or go with you, and I cannot eat bread or drink water with you in this place.

¹⁷ For a word came to me by the word of the LORD: You must not eat bread or drink water there. You must not return by the road you came."

¹⁸ He said to him, "I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house so he may eat bread and drink water.'" He was lying to him.

¹⁹ So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.

²⁰ While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back.

²¹ He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, saying, "This is what the LORD says: Because you have defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the command that the LORD your God commanded you,

²² but came back and ate bread and drank water in the place about which he said to you, 'Do not eat bread or drink water'—your body will not come to the tomb of your ancestors."

²³ After he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, he saddled the donkey for him—for the prophet whom he had brought back.

²⁴ He went on his way, and a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it and the lion standing beside the body.

²⁵ People passing by saw the body thrown on the road and the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.

²⁶ When the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard, he said, "It is the man of God who defied the word of the LORD. The LORD has given him to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke to him."

²⁷ He said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And they saddled it.

²⁸ He went and found the body thrown on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or mauled the donkey.

²⁹ The prophet picked up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city of the old prophet to mourn and bury him.

³⁰ He laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!"

³¹ After he had buried him, he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.

³² For the word that he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines of the high places in the cities of Samaria will surely come to pass."

³³ After this event, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way but again made priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Whoever wanted it, he ordained, and they became priests of the high places.

³⁴ This thing became the sin of the house of Jeroboam, to cut it off and destroy it from the face of the earth.