1 Kings, Chapter 13:

Verses from 1 Kings, Chapter 13 of the book of 1 Samuel in the Bible.

The prophet of God from Judah

• 1. At the command of the Lord, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to burn incense.
• 2. He cried out against the altar at the command of the Lord: “O altar, O altar! Thus says the Lord: 'A son will be born into the house of David, named Josiah, and the priests of the idolatrous altars who now burn incense here will sacrifice over you, and human bones will be burned over you.'
• 3. That same day the man of God gave a sign, saying: “This is the sign that the Lord has declared: The altar will be split open, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.”
• 4. When King Jeroboam heard the words that the man of God proclaimed against the altar of Bethel, he stretched out his hand from where he was and ordered: “Arrest him!” But the arm he stretched out against the man of God became paralyzed, and he could no longer move it.
• 5. Furthermore, the altar was split apart, and the ashes poured out, according to the sign given by the man of God at the command of the Lord.
• 6. Then the king said to the man of God, “Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my arm may recover.” The man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king's arm recovered and returned to normal.
• 7. The king said to the man of God, “Come to my house and have something to eat, and I will reward you.”
• 8. But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you gave me half of your possessions, I would not go with you to eat or drink in this place.
• 9. For I have received a command from the Lord: 'Do not eat bread or drink water, and do not return the same way you came.'
• 10. So he went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
• 11. Now there was an old prophet who lived in Bethel, and his sons told him everything that the man of God had done that day and also the words he had spoken to the king.
• 12. Their father asked, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way the man of God had gone from Judah.
• 13. Then he said to his sons, “Prepare the donkey for me.” And they prepared the donkey, and he rode on it
• 14. and went to meet the man of God, finding him sitting under an oak. And he asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “Yes,” he replied.
• 15. Then the prophet said to him, “Come with me to my house and have something to eat.”
• 16. But the man of God replied, “I cannot go with you or eat bread or drink water in this place,
• 17. because I received a command from the Lord: 'Do not eat bread or drink water there, and do not return the same way you came' “.
• 18. The elderly prophet replied: “I am also a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me at the command of the Lord: 'Bring him back to his house so that he can eat bread and drink water'”. But he was lying.
• 19. Then the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.
• 20. While they were at table, the word of the Lord came to the old prophet who had brought him back,
• 21. and he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: 'You have disobeyed the command of the Lord and have not fulfilled the mission that the Lord your God gave you.
• 22. You went back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore his body will not be buried in the tomb of his ancestors' “.
• 23. After eating and drinking, the elderly prophet saddled the donkey for the man of God.
• 24. On the way, a lion found him and killed him, and his body was left lying on the ground, next to the lion and the donkey.
• 25. Some people who passed by saw the corpse lying on the ground, with the lion beside it, and went to tell him in the city where the elderly prophet lived.
• 26. When the prophet heard the news, he said: “It is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord! Therefore the Lord handed him over to the lion, who struck him and killed him, according to the word that the Lord had spoken to him.”
• 27. Then the prophet said to his sons, “Prepare the donkey for me.” And they did.
• 28. He went and found the body lying on the ground, with the lion and the donkey beside it. The lion had not eaten the body or injured the donkey.
• 29. The prophet lifted the body of the man of God, placed it on the donkey, and took it back to Bethel to mourn for it and bury it.
• 30. Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned for him, saying, “Ah, my brother!”
• 31. After burying him, the prophet said to his sons: “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; put my bones next to his bones.
• 32. For the word of the Lord which he proclaimed against the altar of Bethel and against all the idolatrous altars in the altars of the cities of Samaria will certainly come to pass.”
• 33. Despite this, Jeroboam did not abandon his bad behavior; on the contrary, he continued to appoint anyone he wanted to be a priest at the idolatrous altars. He consecrated anyone, even if they were not Levites, to become priests on idolatrous altars.
• 34. This attitude of Jeroboam's family was the cause of their ruin and their elimination from the face of the earth, according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken through his servant, the prophet.

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