1 Kings 13

13 ¹ Now a man of our Father came from Judah to Bethel by the word of our Father, while Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to make an offering.

² He cried out against the altar by the word of our Father: "Altar, altar, this is what our Father says: 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 make offerings on you, and human bones will be burned on you."

³ That same day he gave a sign, saying, "This is the sign that our Father has spoken: the altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out."

⁴ When the king heard the word of the man of our Father, which he cried out against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched out against him withered, so that he could not draw it back to himself. ⁵ The altar was also split apart, and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of our Father had given by the word of our Father. ⁶ Then the king said to the man of our Father, "Plead now for the favor of your Father, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me." So he entreated our Father, and the king's hand was restored to him and became as it was before.

⁷ And the king said to the man of our Father, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a gift."

⁸ But the man of our Father said to the king, "If you gave me half your house, I would not go in with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place." ⁹ For so I was commanded by the word of our Father: "You must not eat bread or drink water, nor return by the way you came." ¹⁰ So he went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.

The Cost of Defying the Father's Word

¹¹ Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all that the man of our Father had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words he had spoken to the king.

¹² And their father asked them, "Which way did he go?" His sons showed him the road the man of our Father who had come from Judah had taken. ¹³ Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it. ¹⁴ He went after the man of our Father and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, "Are you the man of our Father who came from Judah?" And he said, "I am."

¹⁵ Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat some bread."

¹⁶ But he said, "I cannot return with you or go in with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place," ¹⁷ for by the word of our Father I was told, "You must not eat bread or drink water there, nor return by the way you came."

¹⁸ Then he said to him, "I too am a prophet, like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of our Father, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" But he was lying to him.

¹⁹ So the man of our Father went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water. ²⁰ Now as they were sitting at the table, the word of our Father came to the prophet who had brought him back.

²¹ And he cried out to the man of our Father who came from Judah, "This is what our Father says: Because you have defied his word and have not kept the command that your Father gave you, ²² but went back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you, 'Eat no bread and drink no water,' your body will not come to the tomb of your ancestors."

²³ After the man of our Father had eaten and drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet he had brought back. ²⁴ As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body was thrown down on the road, with the donkey standing beside it and the lion standing beside the body. ²⁵ Now some men passed by and saw the body thrown down on the road, and the lion standing beside the body, and they came and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived. ²⁶ When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, "It is the man of our Father who defied the word of our Father; so he has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that he spoke to him." ²⁷ Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And they saddled it. ²⁸ He went and found the body thrown down on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey. ²⁹ So the prophet lifted up the body of the man of our Father, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back; and the old prophet came to the city to mourn for him and to bury him. ³⁰ He laid the body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!"

³¹ After he had buried him, he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of our Father is buried; lay my bones beside his bones." ³² For the word that he cried out by the word of our Father against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass.

³³ Even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again made priests for the high places from among all the people. Anyone who wished, he ordained, and they became priests of the high places. ³⁴ And this became sin to the house of Jeroboam, to cut it off and destroy it from the face of the earth.