| Chapter
13 |
| 1 | And,
behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto
Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. |
| 2 | And he cried against the altar in the
word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a
child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee
shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and
men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. |
|
3 | And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which
the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are
upon it shall be poured out. |
| 4
| And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of
God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand
from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth
against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him. |
| 5 | The altar also was rent, and the
ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had
given by the word of the LORD. |
| 6
| And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Entreat now the
face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me
again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king's hand was restored
him again, and became as it was before. |
| 7 | And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me,
and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward. |
|
8 | And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt
give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread
nor drink water in this place: |
| 9
| For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no
bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. |
| 10 | So he went another way,
and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. |
|
11 | Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his
sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in
Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to
their father. |
| 12 | And
their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way
the man of God went, which came from Judah. |
| 13 | And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they
saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon, |
| 14 | And went after the man of God, and found him sitting
under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from
Judah? And he said, I am. |
| 15 |
Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread. |
| 16 | And he said, I may not return with
thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee
in this place: |
| 17 | For it
was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water
there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. |
| 18 | He said unto him, I am a prophet also
as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring
him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But
he lied unto him. |
| 19 | So
he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. |
| 20 | And it came to pass, as
they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that
brought him back: |
| 21 | And
he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD,
Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the
commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, |
|
22 | But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk
water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and
drink no water; thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy
fathers. |
| 23 | And it came
to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for
him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back. |
| 24 | And when he was gone, a lion met him
by the way, and slew him: and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass
stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcass. |
|
25 | And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcass cast
in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass: and they came and told it in
the city where the old prophet dwelt. |
| 26 | And when the prophet that brought him back from the way
heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word
of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath
torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto
him. |
| 27 | And he spake to
his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him. |
| 28 | And he went and found his carcass cast
in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass: the lion had not
eaten the carcass, nor torn the ass. |
|
29 | And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God, and laid
it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to
mourn and to bury him. |
| 30 |
And he laid his carcass in his own grave; and they mourned over him,
saying, Alas, my brother! |
| 31 |
And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons,
saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is
buried; lay my bones beside his bones: |
| 32 | For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD
against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places
which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass. |
| 33 | After this thing Jeroboam returned not
from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the
high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the
priests of the high places. |
| 34
| And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it
off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth. |
