1 Kings 13

13 ¹A man of our Father came from Judah to Bethel by our Father's word, as Jeroboam stood at the altar to burn incense.

²By the word of our Father he cried against the altar: "Altar, altar, our Father says: the house of David will bear a son named Josiah. On you he will sacrifice the high-place priests who burn incense on you, and human bones will burn on you."

³That day he gave a sign: "This is the sign our Father spoke: the altar will split and its ashes will spill out."

⁴When King Jeroboam heard the man of our Father cry out against the altar at Bethel, he held out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him!" But the hand he held out against him withered, unable to draw it back to himself. ⁵The altar tore apart, its ashes poured out—the sign the man of our Father gave by our Father's word. ⁶The king told the man of our Father, "Plead for your God's favor; pray for me, that my hand be restored." He asked our Father, and the king's hand was restored as before.

⁷The king told the man of our Father, "Come home, eat with me, and I'll give you a gift."

⁸The man of our Father told the king, "Even if you give me half your house, I won't go with you, nor eat bread, nor drink water here.

⁹This is what our Father's word commanded me: 'eat no bread, drink no water, don't return the way you came.'"

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

¹¹An old prophet lived in Bethel. His sons came and told him everything the man of our Father had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words he had spoken to the king.

¹²Their father asked, "Which way did he go?" His sons showed him the road the man of our Father from Judah took. ¹³He told his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." They saddled the donkey for him, and he rode on it. ¹⁴He followed the man of our Father, found him sitting under an oak, and asked, "Are you the man of our Father who came from Judah?" "I am," he said.

¹⁵Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat some bread."

¹⁶But he said, "I can't return with you or enter with you, and won't eat bread or drink water with you here. ¹⁷For our Father told me by his word: 'Eat no bread, drink no water there, or go back the way you came.'"

¹⁸He said, "I'm a prophet too, like you; an angel told me by God's word, 'Bring him back to your house to eat bread and drink water.'" But he lied to him.

¹⁹So the man of our Father returned with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water. ²⁰While they sat at the table, the word of our Father came to the prophet who brought him back.

²¹He called to the man of our Father from Judah: "This is what our Father says: Because you defied his word and ignored the command your Father gave you, ²²but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place he told you, 'Eat no bread, drink no water'—your corpse won't reach your fathers' tomb."

²³After our Father's man ate and drank, the old prophet saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet he had brought back. ²⁴Going on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body was thrown on the road, the donkey standing beside it, the lion beside the body. ²⁵Passersby saw the body thrown down on the road and the lion standing beside it, and they came and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived. ²⁶Hearing this, the prophet who had turned him back from the road said, "This is the man of our Father who defied our Father's word; so he gave him to the lion, which broke and killed him, as he had told him." ²⁷Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And they saddled it. ²⁸He went and found the body thrown on the road, donkey and lion standing beside it; the lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey. ²⁹The prophet lifted the body of the man of our Father, laid it on the donkey, brought it back, and came to the city to mourn and bury him. ³⁰He laid the body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!"

³¹After burying him, he told his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of our Father is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. ³²The message he cried by our Father's word against Bethel's altar and every high-place shrine in Samaria's cities will surely happen."

³³After this, Jeroboam still did not turn from his evil way; he again made high-place priests from all the people—whoever wanted, he ordained, and they became high-place priests. ³⁴This became sin to Jeroboam's house, cutting it off, destroying it from the face of the earth.