1 Kings
13
- By the word of the LORD a man of God came
from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering.
- He cried out against the altar by the word
of the LORD: "O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named
Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests
of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned
on you.'"
- That same day the man of God gave a sign:
"This is the sign the LORD has declared: The altar will be split apart
and the ashes on it will be poured out."
- When King Jeroboam heard what the man of
God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from
the altar and said, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched out toward
the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back.
- Also, the altar was split apart and its
ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word
of the LORD.
- Then the king said to the man of God, "Intercede
with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored."
So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king's hand was restored
and became as it was before.
- The king said to the man of God, "Come
home with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift."
- But the man of God answered the king, "Even
if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor
would I eat bread or drink water here.
- For I was commanded by the word of the LORD:
'You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.'"
- So he took another road and did not return
by the way he had come to Bethel.
- Now there was a certain old prophet living
in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done there
that day. They also told their father what he had said to the king.
- Their father asked them, "Which way
did he go?" And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah
had taken.
- So he said to his sons, "Saddle the
donkey for me." And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted
it
- and rode after the man of God. He found
him sitting under an oak tree and asked, "Are you the man of God who
came from Judah?" "I am," he replied.
- So the prophet said to him, "Come home
with me and eat."
- The man of God said, "I cannot turn
back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this
place.
- I have been told by the word of the LORD:
'You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.'"
- The old prophet answered, "I too am
a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: 'Bring
him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.'"
(But he was lying to him.)
- So the man of God returned with him and
ate and drank in his house.
- While they were sitting at the table, the
word of the LORD came to the old prophet who had brought him back.
- He cried out to the man of God who had come
from Judah, "This is what the LORD says: 'You have defied the word of
the LORD and have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you.
- You came back and ate bread and drank water
in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will
not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.'"
- When the man of God had finished eating
and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for
him.
- As he went on his way, a lion met him on
the road and killed him, and his body was thrown down on the road, with both
the donkey and the lion standing beside it.
- Some people who passed by saw the body thrown
down there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported
it in the city where the old prophet lived.
- When the prophet who had brought him back
from his journey heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who defied
the word of the LORD. The LORD has given him over to the lion, which has mauled
him and killed him, as the word of the LORD had warned him."
- The prophet said to his sons, "Saddle
the donkey for me," and they did so.
- Then he went out and found the body thrown
down on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion
had neither eaten the body nor mauled the donkey.
- So the prophet picked up the body of the
man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to
mourn for him and bury him.
- Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and
they mourned over him and said, "Oh, my brother !"
- After burying him, he said to his sons,
"When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay
my bones beside his bones.
- For the message he declared by the word
of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the
high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true."
- Even after this, Jeroboam did not change
his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all
sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the
high places.
- This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam
that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth.
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