The Man of God from Judah
1Just then a man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of Yahweh, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to burn incense. 2He cried out against the altar by the word of Yahweh: “Altar, altar! Thus says Yahweh: A son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and on you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now burn incense on you, and human bones will be burned on you.” 3That same day he gave a sign: “This is the sign that Yahweh has spoken — the altar will be torn apart, and the ashes on it will be poured out.” 4When King Jeroboam heard the word 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 against him withered, and he could not draw it back. 5The altar was also torn apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign the man of God had given by the word of Yahweh. 6The king said to the man of God, “Please appease Yahweh your God and pray for me, that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God appeased Yahweh, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before. 7Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a gift.” 8But the man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half your house, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place, 9for I was commanded by the word of Yahweh: You shall not eat bread or drink water, and you shall not return by the way you came.” 10So he went a different way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
The Old Prophet of Bethel
11Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel, and his sons came and told him everything the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words he had spoken to the king. 12Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” His sons had seen which way the man of God who came from Judah had gone, 13and he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” They saddled the donkey for him, and he rode off 14after the man of God. He found him sitting under a terebinth tree and said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “I am,” he answered. 15He said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16But he said, “I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place, 17for a word came to me by the word of Yahweh: You shall not eat bread or drink water there, and you shall not return by going the way you came.” 18The old man said to him, “I too am a prophet, like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he was lying to him. 19So he went back with him and ate bread in the old prophet’s house and drank water. 20As they were sitting at the table, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who had brought him back, 21and he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah: “Thus says Yahweh: Because you have defied the mouth of Yahweh and have not kept the command that Yahweh your God gave you, 22but have come back and eaten bread and drunk 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.” 23After he had eaten bread and had drunk, the prophet who had brought him back saddled the donkey for him, 24and as he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body was left lying on the road, with the donkey standing beside it, and the lion also standing beside the body. 25Just then some men passed by and saw the body lying on the road, with the lion standing beside it; they went and told it in the city where the old prophet lived. 26When the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who defied the word of Yahweh. Yahweh has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, according to the word Yahweh spoke to him.” 27He said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddled it. 28He went and found the body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it; the lion had not eaten the body or mauled the donkey. 29The prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back; he came to his own city to mourn him and bury him. 30He laid the body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” 31After he had buried 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. 32For the word he cried out by the word of Yahweh against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria, will certainly come true.”
Jeroboam’s Continuing Sin
33Even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again made priests for the high places from among all the people; whoever wished, he consecrated, and they became priests of the high places. 34This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, leading to its downfall and its destruction from the face of the earth.
