1 Kings 13

Revised Geneva Translation

13 And behold, a man of God came out of Judah (by the Commandment of the LORD) to Bethel. And Jeroboam stood by the altar, to offer incense.

² And he cried against the altar by the Commandment of the LORD, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, a child shall be born to the House of David, Josiah by name. And upon you shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you. And they shall burn men’s bones upon you.’”

³ And he gave a sign at the same time, saying, “This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: Behold, the altar shall tear, and the ashes that are upon it shall fall out.”

⁴ And when the king had heard the saying of the man of God, which he had cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand for the altar, saying, “Lay hold on him!” But his hand which he put forth against him dried up. And he could not pull it back in.

⁵ The altar also split apart. And the ashes fell out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the Commandment of the LORD.

⁶ Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “I implore you, pray to the LORD your God, and make intercession for me, so that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God prayed to the LORD. And the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.

⁷ Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, so that you may dine. And I will give you a reward.”

⁸ But the man of God said to the king, “If 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 I was charged by the Word of the LORD, saying: “Eat no bread nor drink water nor turn back by the same way that you came.”

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

¹¹ And an old Prophet dwelt in Bethel. And his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. And they told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.

¹² And their father said to them, “What way did he go?” And his sons told him what way the man of God had gone, who came from Judah.

¹³ And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” 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, “Art you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “Yes.”

¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”

¹⁶ But he answered, “I may neither return with you nor go in with you. Nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.

¹⁷ “For I was charged by the Word of the LORD: “You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there, nor turn back to go by the way that you went.”

¹⁸ And he said to him, “I am also a Prophet, 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 And as they sat at the table, the Word of the LORD 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 LORD: ‘Because you have disobeyed the Mouth of the LORD, and have not kept the Commandment which the LORD your God Commanded you,

²² ‘(but came back again and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, “You shall eat no bread nor drink any water)”, your carcass shall not come to the sepulcher of your fathers.’”

²³ And when he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled his donkey for him (for the Prophet whom he had brought back).

²⁴ And when he had gone, a lion met him by the road and killed him. And his body was cast in the road. And the donkey stood nearby. The lion also stood by the corpse.

²⁵ And behold, men who passed by saw the carcass cast in the road, and the Lion standing by the corpse. And they came and told it in the town where the old Prophet dwelt.

²⁶ And when the Prophet who had brought him back again from the road heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who has been disobedient to the Commandment of the LORD. Therefore, the LORD has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the Word of the LORD which He spoke to him.”

²⁷ And he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled him.

²⁸ And he went and found his body cast in the road. And the donkey and the lion stood by the corpse. And the lion had neither eaten the body nor torn the donkey.

²⁹ And the Prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it upon the donkey and brought it back. And the old Prophet came to the city to lament and bury him.

³⁰ And he laid his body in his own grave. And they lamented over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”

³¹ And when he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, bury me also in the sepulcher in which the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.

³² “For that thing which he cried by the Word of the LORD against the altar that is in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.”

³³ After this, Jeroboam did not convert from his wicked way, but turned back and made priests of the high places from the lowest of the people. Whoever wished, could consecrate himself and be one of the priests of the high places.

³⁴ And this thing turned to sin to the House of Jeroboam, even to root it out and destroy it from the face of the Earth.