1 Now behold, there came A1 Kin 12:22; 2 Kin 23:17a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Loʀᴅ, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar B1 Kin 12:33to burn incense. 2 A1 Kin 13:32He cried against the altar by the word of the Loʀᴅ, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Loʀᴅ, ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, B2 Kin 23:15, 16Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’ ” 3 Then he gave a 1Lit wondersign the same day, saying, “AEx 4:1-5; Judg 6:17; Is 38:7; John 2:18; 1 Cor 1:22This is the 1Lit wondersign which the Loʀᴅ has spoken, ‘Behold, the altar shall be split apart and the 2Lit ashes of fatashes which are on it shall be poured out.’ ” 4 Now when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” But his hand which he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. 5 The altar also was split apart and the 1Lit ashes of fatashes were poured out from the altar, according to the 2Lit wondersign which the man of God had given by the word of the Loʀᴅ. 6 The king said to the man of God, “Please 1Lit soften the face ofAEx 8:8, 28; 9:28; 10:17; Acts 8:24; James 5:16entreat the Loʀᴅ your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So BLuke 6:27, 28the man of God 2Lit softened the face ofentreated the Loʀᴅ, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before. 7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and A1 Sam 9:7, 8; 2 Kin 5:15I will give you a reward.” 8 But the man of God said to the king, “ANum 22:18; 24:13; 1 Kin 13:16, 17If you were to give me half your house I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place. 9  “For so 1Lit he commanded meit was commanded me by the word of the Loʀᴅ, saying, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way which you came.’ ” 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way which he came to Bethel.

11 Now A1 Kin 13:25; 2 Kin 23:18an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his 1Lit sonsons came and told him all the deeds which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they related to their father. 12 Their father said to them, “1Lit Where is the way he wentWhich way did he go?” Now his sons 2Some ancient versions read showed himhad seen the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone. 13 Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it. 14 So he went after the man of God and found him sitting under 1Or a terebinthan oak; and he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” 15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16 He said, “A1 Kin 13:8, 9I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17  “For a command came to me A1 Kin 20:35by the word of the Loʀᴅ, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.’ ” 18 He said to him, “AMatt 7:15; 1 John 4:1I also am a prophet like you, and BGal 1:8an angel spoke to me by the word of the Loʀᴅ, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” But CProv 12:19, 22; 19:5; Jer 29:31, 32; Ezek 13:8, 9; 1 Tim 4:1, 2he lied to him. 19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.

20 Now it came about, as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of the Loʀᴅ came to the prophet who had brought him back; 21 and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the Loʀᴅ, ‘Because you have 1Lit rebelled againstdisobeyed the 2Lit mouthcommand of the Loʀᴅ, and have not observed the commandment which the Loʀᴅ your God commanded you, 22 but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water”; your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers.’ ” 23 It came about after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 Now when he had gone, A1 Kin 20:36a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body. 25 And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the body; so they came and told it in the city where A1 Kin 13:11the old prophet lived.

26 Now when the prophet who brought him back from the way heard it, he said, “It is the man of God, who 1Lit rebelled againstdisobeyed the 2Lit mouthcommand of the Loʀᴅ; therefore the Loʀᴅ has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the Loʀᴅ which He spoke to him.” 27 Then he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. 28 He went and found his body thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor torn the donkey. 29 So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him. 30 He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, “AJer 22:18Alas, my brother!” 31 After he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; ARuth 1:17; 2 Kin 23:17, 18lay my bones beside his bones. 32  “A1 Kin 13:2For the thing shall surely come to pass which he cried by the word of the Loʀᴅ against the altar in Bethel and BLev 26:30; 1 Kin 12:31against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of C1 Kin 16:24; John 4:5; Acts 8:14Samaria.”

33 After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but A1 Kin 12:31, 32again he made priests of the high places from among 1Or extremities ofall the people; BJudg 17:5any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high places. 34 1Lit by this thing he becameA1 Kin 12:30; 2 Kin 17:21This event became sin to the house of Jeroboam, B1 Kin 14:10; 15:29, 30even to blot it out and destroy it from off the face of the earth.