1 Kings 13
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1By the word of the LORD a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering.1Right when Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn some incense, a man of God arrived in Bethel from Judah in obedience to a command from the LORD.
2By the word of the LORD he cried out against the altar: "Altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.'"2He cursed the altar in this message from the LORD: "Hey altar! Hey altar! This is what the LORD says: 'Pay attention to this! A son is going to be born in David's dynasty. His name will be Josiah. He will sacrifice the priests who burn incense on you in these high places. Human bones will be burned on you!'"
3That same day the man of God gave a sign: "This is the sign the LORD has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out."3Later that same day, he gave them a special display of power of what was to come when he said, "Here's proof that the LORD has decreed this: Look! This altar will be split apart and the ashes that are on it will spill out."
4When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back.4When he heard the man of God curse the altar in Bethel, the king pointed at the man of God from where the king was standing at the altar. "Seize him!" he ordered. But all of a sudden his hand that he had stretched out dried up, and he could not bring it back to his side!
5Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the LORD.5Also, the altar broke apart and the ashes that were on it spilled out from the altar, providing just the proof that the man of God had predicted in his message from the LORD!
6Then the king said to the man of God, "Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored." So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king's hand was restored and became as it was before.6"Please!" the king begged the man of God, "Ask the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored for me!" So the man of God asked the LORD, and the king's hand was immediately and fully restored, just like it had been before.
7The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift."7So the king told the man of God, "Come back to my palace and rest a while. I'd like to give you a reward."
8But the man of God answered the king, "Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here.8But the man of God replied to the king, "Even if you were to offer me half of your house, I wouldn't go with you, and I'm sure not going to eat even a piece of bread or drink water in this place,
9For I was commanded by the word of the LORD: 'You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.'"9because the LORD commanded me specifically, 'You are not to eat bread, drink water, or return by the way that you came to arrive here!'"
10So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.10Then he left, returning a different way than the one by which he had traveled to Bethel.
11Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to the king.11Now there was an old prophet who lived in Bethel, and his sons went to him and told him everything that the man of God had accomplished that day in Bethel, including the message that he had delivered to the king.
12Their father asked them, "Which way did he go?" And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken.12"Which way did he go?" their father asked him, since his sons had observed the way that the man of God had taken to return to Judah from Bethel.
13So he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it13"Saddle my donkey for me!" he ordered. So they saddled the donkey for him
14and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" "I am," he replied.14and he rode off after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. "You're the man of God who came from Judah, aren't you?" the old prophet asked him. "I am," he replied.
15So the prophet said to him, "Come home with me and eat."15"Come home with me and have a meal," he told him.
16The man of God said, "I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.16But he replied, "I can't go back with you to your home, be in your company, or even eat food or drink water with you in this place,
17I have been told by the word of the LORD: 'You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.'"17because I've been given a command in the form of this message from the LORD: 'You are to eat no food, drink no water, and do not return to Judah by traveling the way by which you go there.'"
18The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: 'Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.'" (But he was lying to him.)18"I'm a prophet like you," the old man replied, "and an angel spoke to me and delivered this message from the LORD: 'Bring him back with you to your house and give him food and water.'" But he was lying,
19So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.19and the man of God accompanied the old prophet back to his house, ate some food, and drank some water.
20While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the old prophet who had brought him back.20Later, while they were sitting down at the table, a message from the LORD was delivered to the prophet who had brought him back,
21He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, "This is what the LORD says: 'You have defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you.21so he cried out to the man of God from Judah: "This is what the LORD says: 'Because you disobeyed a command from the LORD and haven't done what the LORD your God commanded you to do,
22You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your ancestors.'"22but instead you returned to eat and drink in the very place that he told you "Eat no food and drink no water," your body will not be buried in the same grave as your ancestors.'"
23When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him.23After the meal was over, and the man had eaten food and had drunk water, the old prophet saddled the donkey for him—that is, for the man of God whom he had brought back.
24As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it.24Not long after the man of God had left, a lion met him along the road and killed him. His body was left lying in the middle of the road with the donkey standing beside it and with the lion also standing next to the body.
25Some people who passed by saw the body lying there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.25When some men passed by and noticed the body lying in the middle of the road and the lion standing beside the body, they went straight to the city and told what had happened in the city where the old prophet lived.
26When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who defied the word of the LORD. The LORD has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the LORD had warned him."26The prophet who had brought the man of God back from the road learned about it. "It's the man of God who disobeyed the message from the LORD," he said. "That's why the LORD gave him to that lion, which mauled him and killed him, just as the message from the LORD told rebuke him."
27The prophet said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me," and they did so.27Then he ordered his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they did.
28Then he went out and found the body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had neither eaten the body nor mauled the donkey.28The old prophet went out, located the body on the road where the donkey and the lion were standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body nor mauled the donkey.
29So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him.29The prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to the city where the old man lived so he could mourn and bury him.
30Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him and said, "Alas, my brother!"30He buried the corpse in his own grave and his family mourned for him, crying out, "Oh, no! My brother!"
31After burying him, he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.31After he had buried the man of God, he gave these instructions to his children: "When I die, bury me in the same grave in which the man of God is buried. Place my bones beside his,
32For the message he declared by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true."32because what he predicted by a message from the LORD against the altar in Bethel and the temples built in the high places of the cities of Samaria will certainly come about."
33Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places.33Despite everything that happened, Jeroboam never did repent of his evil practices. Instead, he appointed even more people to act as priests for the high places. Anyone who wanted to be a priest was ordained to be a priest in the high places.
34This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth.34This practice became so sinful that the LORD decided to erase Jeroboam's dynasty, thus eliminating it from the face of the earth.
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1 Kings 12
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