1And behold, a man of God came from Judah by the word of Yahweh to Bethel, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.
2And he called out against the altar by the word of Yahweh and said, “Altar, altar, thus says Yahweh: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and human bones shall be burned upon you.’”
3And on that day he gave a sign, saying, “This is the sign that Yahweh has spoken: Behold, the altar shall be torn apart, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.”
4And it happened, when the king heard the word of the man of God that he called out against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” But his hand that he stretched out against him dried up, and he could not draw it back to himself.
5And the altar was torn apart, and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of Yahweh.
6And the king answered and said to the man of God, “Entreat now the face of Yahweh your God, and pray on my behalf, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the face of Yahweh, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it was before.
7And the king spoke 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, “If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you, and I would not eat bread nor drink water in this place.
9For thus he charged me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water, nor shall you return by the way that you came.’”
10So he went by another way and did not return by the way that he had come to Bethel.
11Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel, and his son came and recounted to him all the deed that the man of God had done that day in Bethel, and the words that he had spoken to the king; and they recounted them to their father.
12And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons had seen the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone.
13And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he rode on it.
14And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under the terebinth, and he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.”
15And he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”
16But he said, “I cannot return with you nor go in with you, and I will not eat bread nor drink water with you in this place.
17For a word came to me by the word of Yahweh: ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return to go by the way that you came.’”
18And he 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 lied to him.
19So he returned with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.
20And it happened, while they were sitting at the table, that the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who had brought him back.
21And he called out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Because you have rebelled against the mouth of Yahweh and have not kept the commandment that Yahweh your God commanded you,
22and you returned and ate bread and drank water in the place of which he said to you, “Do not eat bread and do not drink water,” your corpse shall not come to the grave of your fathers.’”
23And it happened, 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.
24And he went, and a lion found him on the way and killed him, and his corpse was left thrown down on the way, and the donkey was standing beside it, and the lion was standing beside the corpse.
25And behold, men were passing by, and they saw the corpse thrown down on the way, and the lion standing beside the corpse; and they came and spoke of it in the city where the old prophet was living.
26And the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard, and he said, “It is the man of God who rebelled against the mouth of Yahweh; and Yahweh gave him to the lion, which broke him and killed him, according to the word of Yahweh that he spoke to him.”
27And he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it.
28And he went and found his corpse thrown down on the way, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse, nor had it broken the donkey.
29And the prophet lifted up the corpse of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back; and the old prophet came into the city to mourn for him and to bury him.
30And he laid his corpse in his own grave, and they mourned over him, “Alas, my brother!”
31And it happened, after he had buried him, that he said to his sons, saying, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.
32For the word that he called out by the word of Yahweh against the altar that is in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass.”
33After this thing Jeroboam did not turn back from his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from the extremes of the people; whoever wished, he consecrated him, so that they became priests of the high places.
34And by this thing there came sin upon the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.
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