King James Version

1 And behold, a man of God came from Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel, and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. 2 And he called out against the altar in the word of the Lord and said, "Altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: Behold, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah is his name, and he will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones will be burned on you." 3 And on that day there will be a sign, saying, "This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: Behold, the altar shall be torn and the fat that is on it shall be poured out." 4 And it was when the king heard the words of the man of God who had cried out against the altar at Bethel, that Jeroboam sent his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him," but his hand that he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not bring it back to him. 5 And the altar was torn down, and the ashes from the altar were poured out like the sign that the man of God gave by the word of the Lord. 6 And the king answered and said to the man of God, "Please seek the face of the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored to me." And the man of God sought the face of the Lord, and the king's hand was restored to him, and it was as it was before. 7 And the king spoke to the man of God, saying: "Come to the house and eat bread, and I will give you a gift." 8 And the man of God said to the king, "If you give me half of your house, I will not go with you, and I will not eat bread nor drink water in this place." 9 For thus has the word of the Lord commanded me, saying, "You shall not eat bread, and you shall not drink water, and you shall not return by the way in which you came." 10 And he went on a different path and did not return by the way he came to Bethel. 11 And a certain old prophet was living in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel, and the words which he had spoken to the king; and they told them to their father. 12 And their father spoke to them, "Where is the way that the man of God went who came from Judah?" 13 And he said to his sons, "Saddle for me the donkey." And they saddled the donkey for him, and he rode on it. 14 And he went after the man of God, and he found him sitting under the oak, and he said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he said, "I am." 15 And he said to me, "Go with me to the house and eat bread." 16 And he said, "I cannot return with you and come with you, and I cannot eat bread and I cannot drink water with you in this place." 17 For a word came to me by the word of the LORD: You shall not eat bread there and you shall not drink water there, nor shall you return by the way you came. 18 And he said to him, "I am also a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, and he will eat bread and drink water.'" But he lied to him. 19 And he sat with him and ate bread in his house, and they drank water. 20 And they were sitting at the table, and the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had returned. 21 And he called to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Because you have rebelled against the word of the Lord and have not kept the commandment that the Lord your God commanded you.” 22 And you shall return, and you shall eat bread, and you shall drink water in the place that I spoke to you; do not eat bread and do not drink water, lest your corpse come to the grave of your fathers. 23 And it happened after he ate bread and after he drank that he saddled his donkey for the prophet who had returned him. 24 And he went, and found a lion on the way, and killed it, and its corpse was thrown on the path, and the donkey was standing beside it, and the lion was standing beside the carcass. 25 And behold, men were passing by, and they saw the carcass thrown in the way and the lion standing beside the carcass. And they came and spoke in the city where the old prophet dwelt. 26 And the prophet who had been brought back from the way heard, and he said, "The man of God, he is the one who rebelled against the word of the Lord," and the Lord delivered him to the lion, and it tore him and killed him, according to the word of the Lord that He spoke to him. 27 And he spoke to his sons, saying, "Tame the donkey," and they tamed it. 28 And he went and found his carcass thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion were standing beside the carcass; the lion did not eat the carcass, and the donkey did not break it. 29 And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and placed it on the donkey, and he returned and came into the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him. 30 And he laid his body in his grave, and they mourned for him, saying, "Alas, my brother!" 31 And it was after burying him, that he said to his sons, saying, “When I die, you shall bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried, alongside my bones, leave my bones.” 32 For there will be the word that was called by the word of the Lord against the altar that is in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria. 33 After this matter, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but he again made priests from the lowest of the people; whoever desired, he filled his hand, and they became priests of the high places. 34 And it happened that this was for the sin of the house of Jeroboam, to cut off and to destroy from the face of the earth.