1 Kings 13 | New International Reader’s Version

New International Reader’s Version

A man of God from Judah

1 A man of God went from Judah to Bethel. He had received a message from the LORD. He arrived in Bethel just as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer a sacrifice. 2 The man cried out. He shouted a message from the LORD against the altar. He said, ‘Altar! Altar! The LORD says, “A son named Josiah will be born into the royal family of David. Altar, listen to me! Josiah will sacrifice the priests of the high places on you. They will be the children of the priests who are offering sacrifices here. So human bones will be burned on you.” ’ 3 That same day the man of God spoke about a miraculous sign. He said, ‘Here is the sign the LORD has announced. This altar will be broken to pieces. The ashes on it will be spilled out.’ 4 The man of God announced that message against the altar at Bethel. When King Jeroboam heard it, he reached out his hand from the altar. He said, ‘Grab him!’ But as he reached out his hand towards the man, it dried up. He couldn’t even pull it back. 5 Also, the altar broke into pieces. Its ashes spilled out. That happened in keeping with the miraculous sign the man of God had announced. He had received a message from the LORD. 6 King Jeroboam spoke to the man of God. He said, ‘Pray to the LORD your God for me. Pray that my hand will be as good as new again.’ So the man of God prayed to the LORD for the king. And the king’s hand became as good as new. It was just as healthy as it had been before. 7 The king said to the man of God, ‘Come home with me for a meal. I’ll give you a gift.’ 8 But the man of God replied to the king. He said, ‘What if you were to give me half of what you own? Even then I wouldn’t go with you. I wouldn’t eat bread or drink water here. 9 The LORD gave me a command. He said, “Do not eat bread or drink water there. Do not return the same way you came.” ’ 10 So he took another road. He didn’t go back on the same road he had taken when he came to Bethel. 11 An old prophet was living in Bethel. His sons came and spoke to him. They told him everything the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what the man had said to the king. 12 Their father asked them, ‘Which way did he go?’ His sons showed him the road the man of God from Judah had taken. 13 So he said to his sons, ‘Put a saddle on the donkey for me.’ When they had done it, he got on the donkey. 14 He travelled on the same road the man of God had taken. He found the man sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, ‘Are you the man of God who came from Judah?’ ‘I am’, he replied. 15 So the prophet said to him, ‘Come home with me. I’ll give you something to eat.’ 16 The man of God said, ‘I can’t go back to Bethel with you. I can’t eat bread or drink water with you there. 17 I’ve received a message from the LORD. He told me, “Do not eat bread or drink water there. Do not return the same way you came.” ’ 18 The old prophet answered, ‘I’m also a prophet, just like you. An angel gave me a message from the LORD. The message said, “Bring the man of God back with you to your house. Then he can eat bread and drink water with you.” ’ But the old prophet was telling him a lie. 19 The man of God returned with him. He ate and drank in his house. 20 They were sitting at the table. The LORD gave a message to the old prophet who had brought the man of God back. 21 He cried out to the man who had come from Judah. He told him, ‘The LORD says, “You have not done what I told you to do. You have not obeyed the command I gave you. I am the LORD your God. 22 You came back here and ate bread and drank water. You did it in the place where I told you not to. So your body will not be buried in your family tomb.” ’ 23 The man of God finished eating and drinking. Then the old prophet who had brought him back put a saddle on the man’s donkey for him. 24 And the man went on his way. A lion attacked him on the road and killed him. His body was left lying on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing beside it. 25 Some people passed by. They saw the body lying on the road. They saw the lion standing beside the body. Then they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived. 26 The prophet who had brought the man back from his journey heard about what had happened. He said, ‘It’s the man of God. He didn’t do what the LORD told him to do. So the LORD has given him over to the lion. The lion has attacked him and killed him. Everything has happened just as the LORD’s message had warned him it would.’ 27 The old prophet said to his sons, ‘Put a saddle on the donkey for me.’ So they did. 28 Then he went out. He found the body of the man of God lying on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing beside it. The lion hadn’t eaten the body. It hadn’t attacked the donkey either. 29 So the prophet picked up the man’s body. He put it on the donkey. He brought it back to his own city. He wanted to mourn for him and bury him. 30 Then he placed the body in his own tomb. People mourned for him. They said, ‘Oh, no, my friend! My dear friend!’ 31 After the old prophet had buried the man of God, he spoke to his sons. He said, ‘When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Put my bones next to his bones. 32 I want you to do that because he announced a message from the LORD. He spoke against the altar in Bethel. He also spoke against all the temples that are on the high places. They are in the towns of Samaria. What the man of God said will certainly come true.’ 33 Even after all of that happened, Jeroboam still didn’t change his evil ways. Once more he appointed priests for the high places. He made priests out of all kinds of people. In fact, he let anyone become a priest who wanted to. He set them apart to serve at the high places. 34 All of that was the great sin the royal family of Jeroboam committed. It led to their fall from power. Because of it, they were destroyed from the face of the earth.

English Standard Version

A Man of God Confronts Jeroboam

1 And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make offerings. (1Ki 12:33; 2Ki 23:17) 2 And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’” (1Ki 13:32; 2Ki 23:15) 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’” (Jud 6:17) 4 And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. 5 The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. 6 And the king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it was before. (Ex 8:8; Ex 9:28; Ex 10:17; Nu 21:7; Ac 8:24)

Ex 8:8Ex 9:28Ex 10:17Nu 21:7Ac 8:24

7 And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” (1Sa 9:7; 2Ki 5:15) 8 And the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place, (Nu 22:18; Nu 24:13; 1Ki 13:16) 9 for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.’” 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.

The Prophet’s Disobedience

11 Now an old prophet lived in Bethel. And his sons^[1] came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king. (1Ki 13:25; 2Ki 23:18) 12 And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone. 13 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he mounted it. 14 And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” 15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16 And he said, “I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, (1Ki 13:8) 17 for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’” (1Ki 20:35; 1Th 4:15) 18 And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. 19 So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water. 20 And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. 21 And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the command that the Lord your God commanded you, 22 but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’” 23 And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 And as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body. (1Ki 20:36) 25 And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived. (1Ki 13:11) 26 And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the Lord spoke to him.” 27 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. 28 And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey. 29 And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city^[2] to mourn and to bury him. 30 And he laid the body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” (Jer 22:18) 31 And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. (2Ki 23:17) 32 For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.” (1Ki 12:31; 1Ki 13:2; 1Ki 16:24; 2Ki 23:16)

1Ki 12:311Ki 13:21Ki 16:242Ki 23:16

33 After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places. 34 And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth. (1Ki 12:30; 1Ki 14:10; 1Ki 15:29; 2Ki 17:21)

1Ki 12:301Ki 14:101Ki 15:292Ki 17:21