 1 Behold, a man of God came out of Judah, by the Word of the Lord, to Bethel. And Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2 He cried out against the altar in the Word of the Lord and said, O altar, altar, thus says the Lord. Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and on you he shall offer the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burned on you. 3 He gave a sign the same day saying, This is the sign that the Lord has spoken. The altar must be torn apart and the ashes on it must be poured out. 4 When King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God who had cried out against the altar in Bethel, he put forth his hand from the altar saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, that he put forth against him withered up so that he could not pull it in again to himself. 5 The altar also 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 said to the man of God, Seek now the face of the Lord your God, and pray for me, and my hand may be given back to me again. And the man of God prayed to the Lord, and the king's hand was given back to him again, and became as at the beginning. 7 The king said to the man of God, Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward. 8 The man of God said to the king, If you will give me half your house, I will not go in with you, nor will I eat bread nor drink water in this place. 9 For so was it commanded me by the Word of the Lord saying, Eat no bread nor drink water, nor return again by the same way that you came. 10 He went another way, and did not return by the way he came to Bethel. 11 A certain old prophet was living in Bethel, and his son came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. The words that he had spoken to the king they also told to their father. 12 Their father said to them, Where is this man? What way did he go? For his sons had seen what way the man of God, who came from Judah, had gone. 13 He said to his sons, Saddle the donkey. So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode on it, 14 and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, Are you the man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am. 15 He said to him, Come home with me and eat bread. 16 He said, I may not return with you nor go in with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 For a word was to me by the Word of the Lord, you shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that you came. 18 He said to him, I am a prophet also as you are. And an angel spoke to me by the Word of the Lord saying, Bring him back with you into your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied to him. 19 So he went back with him and ate bread in his house, and drank water. 20 As they sat at the table, the Word of the Lord came to the prophet who brought him back. 21 He called to the man of God who came from Judah saying, Thus says the Lord, Because you have not obeyed the mouth of the Lord and have not kept the command that the Lord your God commanded you, 22 but came back and have eaten bread and have drunk water in the place that He said to you, You shall not eat bread nor drink water, your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers. 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 left, and a lion met him by the way and killed him. And his dead body was thrown in the highway, and the donkey stood by it, and the lion also stood by the body. 25 Behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the way and the lion standing by the body. They came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived. 26 When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard, he said, It is the man of God who did not obey the Word of the Lord. The Lord has delivered him to the lion that tore and killed him according to the Word of the Lord that He spoke to him. 27 He spoke to his sons saying, Saddle the donkey for me, and they saddled it. 28 He found his body thrown in the way, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body nor torn the donkey. 29 The prophet took the dead body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. Then the prophet came to the city to mourn and bury him. 30 He laid his body in his own grave and they mourned over him saying, Alas, my brother. 31 After he had buried him, he spoke to his sons saying, When I am dead, bury me in the tomb in which the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones, 32 For the saying that he declared by the Word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places in the cities of Samaria will surely come to pass. 33 After this Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but turned and made priests of the high places from the lowest of the people. Anyone who desired, he consecrated him and he became one of the priests of the high places. 34 This is the sin of the house of Jeroboam, even to blot it from off the face of the earth.
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