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, named Josiah. He will sacrifice on you the priests of the shrines on the hills who burn incense on you, and human bones will be burned on you.’”
3 That day he gave a sign, saying, “This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: the altar will split apart, and the ashes on it will spill out.”
4 When the king heard what the man of God had cried out against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from beside the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out against the man dried up, and he could not draw it back.
5 The altar split apart, and the ashes spilled from the altar, according to the sign the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.
6 The king said to the man of God, “Please plead with the LORD your God and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored to me.” The man of God pleaded with the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it had been before.
7 The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, have something to eat, and I will give you a gift.”
8 The man of God answered 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 I was commanded by the word of the LORD: ‘Do not eat bread, drink no water, and do not return by the way you came.’”
10 He went by another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
11 An old prophet lived in Bethel. One of his sons came and told him everything the man of God had done that day in Bethel, and they told their father the words he had spoken to the king.
12 Their father asked them, “Which way 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 mounted it.
14 He went after the man of God and found him sitting under the terebinth. He asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He answered, “I am.”
15 He said to him, “Come home with me and eat some bread.”
16 He answered, “I cannot go back with you or enter your house. I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place.
17 For the word of the LORD came to me: ‘Do not eat bread or drink water there, and do not go back by the road you came.’”
18 The other man said to him, “I too am a prophet, just like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he was lying to him.
19 So he went back with him, 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: “This is what the LORD says: ‘You rebelled against the command of the LORD and did not keep the commandment that the LORD your God gave you.
22 You returned, ate bread, and drank water in the place where he told you, “Do not eat bread or drink water.” Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your ancestors.’”
23 After he had eaten bread and drunk water, the old prophet saddled the donkey for him—the prophet he had brought back.
24 He went on his way, and a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body lay sprawled on the road, with the donkey standing beside it, and the lion also standing beside the body.
25 Some men passing by saw the body sprawled on the road and the lion standing beside it. 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 this, he said, “It is the man of God who rebelled against the command of the LORD. The LORD gave him over to the lion, which tore him apart and killed him, just as the LORD had told him.”
27 He said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it.
28 He went and found the body sprawled on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body or torn apart the donkey.
29 The prophet lifted the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to the old prophet’s city to mourn for him and bury him.
30 He laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”
31 After burying 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 he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar at Bethel and against all the houses of the shrines on the hills in the cities of Samaria will certainly come true.”
33 After all this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way. He again appointed priests for the shrines on the hills from among the people. Whoever wished to become a priest, he would ordain, and that person would become a priest of the shrines on the hills.
34 This became a sin for the house of Jeroboam, leading to its being wiped out and destroyed from the face of the earth.
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