1 Kings 13
Easy-to-Read Version
God Speaks Against Bethel
13 The Lord commanded a man of God from Judah to go to the city of Bethel. King Jeroboam was standing at the altar offering incense when the man of God arrived. 2 The Lord had commanded the man of God to speak against the altar. He said,
“Altar, the Lord says to you: ‘David’s family will have a son. His name will be Josiah. The priests of the high places are now burning incense on you, but Josiah will offer the priests on you and burn human bones on you, so you can never be used again!’”
3 The man of God gave proof to the people that this would happen. He said, “This is the proof that the Lord told me about. He said, ‘This altar will break apart, and the ashes on it will fall onto the ground.’”
4 When King Jeroboam heard the message from the man of God about the altar in Bethel, he took his hand off the altar and pointed at the man. He said, “Arrest that man!” But when the king said this, his arm became paralyzed. He could not move it. 5 Then the altar broke into pieces, and all its ashes fell onto the ground. This proved that what the man of God had said came from the Lord. 6 Then King Jeroboam said to the man of God, “Please pray to the Lord your God for me. Ask him to heal my arm.”
So the man of God prayed to the Lord, and the king’s arm was healed, as it was before. 7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Please come home with me. Come and eat with me. I will give you a gift.”
8 But the man of God said to the king, “I will not go home with you, even if you give me half of your kingdom! I will not eat or drink anything in this place. 9 The Lord commanded me not to eat or drink anything here. He also commanded me not to go back the same way I came.” 10 So he took a different road home. He did not go back the same way he came to Bethel.
11 There was an old prophet living in Bethel. His sons came and told him what the man of God did in Bethel and what he said to King Jeroboam. 12 The old prophet said, “Which way did he go when he left?” So the sons showed their father which road the man of God from Judah had taken. 13 The old prophet told his sons to saddle his donkey. They put the saddle on the donkey, and the prophet left.
14 The old prophet went after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked him, “Are you the man of God who just came from Judah?”
The man of God answered, “Yes, I am.”
15 So the old prophet said, “Please come home and eat with me.”
16 But the man of God said, “I cannot go home with you. I cannot eat or drink anything in this place. 17 The Lord said to me, ‘You must not eat or drink anything in that place, and you must go back on a different road.’”
18 The old prophet lied to him and said, “But I am a prophet like you. And an angel from the Lord came to me and told me to bring you home and give you something to eat and drink.”
19 So the man of God went to the old prophet’s house and ate and drank with him. 20 While they were sitting at the table, the Lord spoke to the old prophet, 21 and the old prophet spoke to the man of God from Judah. He said, “The Lord said that you did not obey him! You did not do what he commanded. 22 He told you not to eat or drink anything in this place, but you came back here and ate and drank. So your body will not be buried in your family grave.”
23 The man of God finished eating and drinking. Then the old prophet saddled the man’s donkey for him and the man left. 24 On the way home, a lion attacked and killed the man of God. His body was lying on the road while the lion stood next to it. The donkey stood nearby. 25 Some people came walking by and saw the body and the lion standing by it. They went into the city where the old prophet lived and told people what they had seen on the road.
26 The old prophet heard the story and said, “This is the man of God who did not obey the Lord’s command, so the Lord sent a lion to attack him. The lion has killed him, just as the Lord said would happen.” 27 Then the prophet told his sons to saddle his donkey, and they did so. 28 The old prophet went to find the body lying on the road. The donkey and the lion were still standing near it. The lion had not eaten the body or hurt the donkey.
29 The old prophet put the body on his donkey and carried it back to the city to cry for him and bury him. 30 The old prophet buried the man in his own family grave. The old prophet cried for him and said, “Oh, my brother, I am sorry for you.” 31 So the old prophet buried the body. Then he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in this same grave. Put my bones next to his. 32 The Lord used him to speak against the altar at Bethel and against the high places in the other towns in Samaria. And what he said will certainly happen.”
33 King Jeroboam did not change. He continued doing evil. He continued to choose people from different tribes to serve as priests[a] at the high places. Whoever wanted to be a priest was allowed to be one. 34 This is the sin that caused the ruin and destruction of his kingdom.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 13:33 people … priests The Law taught that only people from the tribe of Levi could become priests.
1 Kings 13
World English Bible
13 Behold, a man of God came out of Judah by Yahweh’s word to Bethel; and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. 2 He cried against the altar by Yahweh’s word, and said, “Altar! Altar! Yahweh says: ‘Behold, a son will be born to David’s house, Josiah by name. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men’s bones on you.’” 3 He gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which Yahweh has spoken: Behold, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.”
4 When the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” His hand, which he put out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to himself. 5 The altar was also split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by Yahweh’s word. 6 The king answered the man of God, “Now intercede for the favor of Yahweh your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again.”
The man of God interceded with Yahweh, and the king’s hand was restored to him again, 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 reward.”
8 The man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half of your house, I would not go in with you, neither would I eat bread nor drink water in this place; 9 for so was it commanded me by Yahweh’s word, saying, ‘You shall eat no bread, drink no water, and don’t return by the way that you came.’” 10 So he went another way, and didn’t return by the way that he came to Bethel.
11 Now an old prophet lived in Bethel, and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.
12 Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” Now his sons had seen which way the man of God went, who came from Judah. 13 He said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So 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. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
He said, “I am.”
15 Then 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. I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 For it was said to me by Yahweh’s word, ‘You shall eat no bread or drink water there, and don’t turn again to go by the way that you came.’”
18 He said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by Yahweh’s word, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” He lied to him.
19 So he went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water. 20 As they sat at the table, Yahweh’s word came to the prophet who brought him back; 21 and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Yahweh says, ‘Because you have been disobedient to Yahweh’s word, and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh your God commanded you, 22 but came back, and have eaten bread and drank water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread, and drink no water,” your body will not come to the tomb of your fathers.’”
23 After he had eaten bread and after he drank, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 When he had gone, a lion met him by the way and killed him. His body was thrown on the path, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body. 25 Behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the path, and the lion standing by the body; and 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 of it, he said, “It is the man of God who was disobedient to Yahweh’s word. Therefore Yahweh has delivered him to the lion, which has mauled him and slain him, according to Yahweh’s word which he spoke to him.” 27 He said to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddled it. 28 He went and found his body thrown on the path, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. 29 The prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. 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, “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 which he cried by Yahweh’s word against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely happen.”
33 After this thing, Jeroboam didn’t turn from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people. Whoever wanted to, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places. 34 This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.
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