1 ARST One day a prophet, obeying what Yahweh commanded him to do, went from Judah north to Bethel. He arrived there right at the time that Jeroboam was standing at the altar, ready to burn incense. BSB BSB: Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD.
2 ARST Saying what Yahweh told him to say, the prophet shouted,“This is what Yahweh says about this altar,‘I want you to know that some day a descendant of King David will be born. His name will be Josiah, and he will come here. He will slaughter at this altar the priests who are burning incense for sacrifices on the hills in this area, and he will burn the bones of dead people on this altar.’” BSB BSB: And he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, “O altar, O altar, this is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David, and upon you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and human bones will be burned upon you.’”
3 ARST Then the prophet also said,“This is what will prove to you that Yahweh has said this: This altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be scattered.” BSB BSB: That day the man of God gave a sign, saying, “The LORD has spoken this sign: ‘Surely the altar will be split apart, and the ashes upon it will be poured out.’”
4 ARST When King Jeroboam heard what the prophet said about the altar at Bethel, he pointed his finger at him and said to his servants,“Seize that man!” But immediately the king’ s arm became paralyzed, with the result that he could not move it. BSB BSB: Now when King Jeroboam, who was at the altar in Bethel, heard the word that the man of God had cried out against it, he stretched out his hand and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward him withered, so that he could not pull it back.
5 ARST (The altar split apart, and the ashes spilled out on the ground, which is what the prophet said that Yahweh had predicted would happen.) BSB BSB: And the altar was split apart, and the ashes poured out, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.
6 ARST Then the king said to the prophet,“Please pray that Yahweh will be merciful to me and heal my arm!” So the prophet prayed, and Yahweh completely healed the king’ s arm. BSB BSB: Then the king responded 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 to him as it was before.
7 ARST Then the king said to the prophet,“Come home with me and eat some food. And I will also give you a reward for what you have done!” BSB BSB: Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”
8 ARST But the prophet replied,“Even if you would promise to give me half of everything that you own, I will not go with you, and I will not eat or drink anything with you here, BSB BSB: But the man of God replied, “If you were to give me half your possessions, I still would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.
9 ARST because Yahweh commanded me not to eat or drink anything here. He also commanded me not to return home on the road on which I came here.” BSB BSB: For this is what I was commanded by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’”
10 ARST So he started to return home, but he did not go on the road on which he came to Bethel. He went on a different road. BSB BSB: So the man of God went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
11 ARST At that time there was an old man living in Bethel who was also a prophet. His sons came and told him what the prophet from Judah had done there on that day, and they also told him what the prophet had said to the king. BSB BSB: Now 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. They also told their father the words that the man had spoken to the king.
12 ARST Their father said,“On which road did he go?” So his sons showed him the road on which the prophet from Judah had gone when he left Bethel. BSB BSB: “Which way did he go?” their father asked. And his sons showed him the way taken by the man of God, who had come from Judah.
13 ARST Then he said to his sons,“Put a saddle on my donkey.” So they did that, and he got on the donkey. BSB BSB: So the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” Then they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it
14 ARST He went along the road to find the prophet from Judah. He found him sitting under an oak tree. He said to him,“Are you the prophet who came from Judah?” He replied,“Yes, I am.” BSB BSB: and went 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.
15 ARST The old prophet said to him,“Come home with me and eat some food.” BSB BSB: So the prophet said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat some bread.”
16 ARST He replied,“No, I am not allowed to go with you into your house, or to eat or drink anything with you, BSB BSB: But the man replied, “I cannot go home with you, and I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place.
17 ARST because Yahweh told me,‘Do not eat or drink anything here, and do not return home on the road on which you came.’” BSB BSB: For I 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.’”
18 ARST Then the old prophet said to him,“I also am a prophet, like you are. Yahweh sent an angel to tell me that I should take you home with me and give you some food and drink.” But the old man was lying when he said that. BSB BSB: Then the prophet replied, “I too am 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, so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” The old prophet was lying to him,
19 ARST But because of what the old prophet said, the prophet from Judah returned with him to his home and ate some food and drank some water with him. BSB BSB: but the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.
20 ARST While they were sitting at the table, Yahweh spoke to the old man. BSB BSB: While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back,
21 ARST Then he cried out to the prophet from Judah,“This is what Yahweh says:‘You have disobeyed him, and you have not done what he commanded you to do. BSB BSB: and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because you have defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the commandment that the LORD your God gave you,
22 ARST Instead, you have come back here and had things to eat and drink in a place where he commanded you not to do that. As a result, you will be killed, and your body will not be buried in the grave where your ancestors are buried.’” BSB BSB: but you went back and ate bread and drank water in the place where He told you not to do so, your body shall never reach the tomb of your fathers.’”
23 ARST When they had finished eating, the old man put a saddle on the donkey for the prophet from Judah, and the prophet from Judah left. BSB BSB: And after the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the old prophet who had brought him back saddled the donkey for him.
24 ARST But as he was going, a lion met him and killed him. The prophet’ s corpse was lying on the road; the donkey was standing beside it, and the lion was also standing beside the corpse. BSB BSB: As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it.
25 ARST Some men passed by and were surprised to see the corpse on the road and the lion standing next to the corpse. So they went into Bethel and reported what they had seen. BSB BSB: And there were men passing by who saw the body lying in the road with the lion standing beside it, and they went and reported this in the city where the old prophet lived.
26 ARST When the old man who had brought the prophet from Judah to his home heard about it, he said,“That is the prophet who disobeyed what Yahweh told him to do! That is why Yahweh allowed the lion to attack him and kill him. That is what Yahweh said would happen!” BSB BSB: When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard this, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the command of the LORD. Therefore the LORD has delivered him to the lion, and it has mauled him and killed him, according to the word that the LORD had spoken to him.”
27 ARST Then he said to his sons,“Put a saddle on my donkey.” So they did that. BSB BSB: Then the old prophet instructed his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it,
28 ARST Then he rode on the donkey and found the prophet’ s corpse on the road, and his donkey and the lion were still standing there alongside the corpse. But the lion had not eaten any of the flesh of the prophet and had not attacked the donkey. BSB BSB: and he went and found the body lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body or mauled the donkey.
29 ARST The old man picked up the corpse of the prophet and put it on his donkey and brought it back to Bethel, in order to mourn for him and to bury his corpse. BSB BSB: So the old prophet lifted 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.
30 ARST He buried the prophet’ s corpse in the grave where other people in his family had been buried. Then he and his sons mourned about him, saying,“We are very sorry, my brother!” BSB BSB: Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they lamented over him, “Oh, my brother!”
31 ARST After they had buried him, the old man said to his sons,“When I die, bury my corpse in the grave where we buried the prophet from Judah. Lay my corpse next to his corpse. BSB BSB: After he had buried him, the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, you must bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones,
32 ARST And do not forget what he said, things that Yahweh told him to say about the altar in Bethel, and what Yahweh told him to say about the places where they worshiped idols on the hills around the towns in Samaria. Those things will surely happen.” BSB BSB: for the message that he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria will surely come to pass.”
33 ARST But King Jeroboam still did not stop continuing to do the evil things that he was doing. Instead, he appointed more priests from men who were not descended from Levi. He appointed as priest anyone who agreed to become one, in order that he could offer sacrifices on the hilltops. BSB BSB: Even after these events, Jeroboam did not repent of his evil ways, but again he appointed priests for the high places from every class of people. He ordained anyone who desired to be a priest of the high places.
34 ARST Because he committed that sin, a few years later God got rid of most of Jeroboam’ s descendants and did not allow them to become kings of Israel. BSB BSB: And this was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its extermination and destruction from the face of the earth.
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