Jeroboam’s Hand Withers (2 Kings 23:4–20; 2 Chronicles 34:3–7)
1 DRA And behold there came a man of God out of Juda, by the word of the Lord to Bethel, when Jeroboam was standing upon the altar, and burning 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 DRA And he cried out against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said: O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord: Behold a child shall be born to the house of David, Josias by name, and he shall immolate upon thee the priests of the high places, who now burn incense upon thee, and he shall burn men’s bones upon thee. 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 DRA And he gave a sign the same day, saying: This shall be the sign, that the Lord hath spoken: Behold the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. 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 DRA And when the king had heard the word of the man of God, which he had cried out against the altar in Bethel, he stretched forth his hand from the altar, saying: Lay hold on him. And his hand which he stretched forth against him withered: and he was not able to draw it back again to him. 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 DRA The altar also was rent, and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given before in the word of the Lord. 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 DRA And the king said to the man of God: Entreat the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me. And the man of God besought the face of the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before. 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 DRA And the king said to the man of God: Come home with me to dine, and I will make thee presents. 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 DRA And the man of God answered the king: If thou wouldst give me half thy house I will not go with thee, nor eat bread, nor drink water in this place: 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 DRA For so it was enjoined me by the word of the Lord commanding me: Thou shalt not eat bread nor drink water, nor return by the same way that thou camest. 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 DRA So he departed by another way, and returned not by the way that he came into Bethel. BSB BSB: So the man of God went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
The Old Prophet and the Man of God 11 DRA Now a certain old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came to him and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: and they told their father the words which he had spoken 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 DRA And their father said to them: What way went he? His sons shewed him the way by which the man of God went, who came out of Juda. 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 DRA And he said to his sons: Saddle me the ass. And when they had saddled him, he got up, 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 DRA And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under a turpentine tree: and he said to him: Art thou the man of God that camest from Juda? He answered: 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 DRA And he said to him: Come home with me, to eat bread. BSB BSB: So the prophet said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat some bread.”
16 DRA But he said: I must not return, nor go with thee, neither will I eat bread, nor drink water in this place: 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 DRA Because the Lord spoke to me in the word of the Lord, saying: Thou shalt not eat bread, and thou shalt not drink water there, nor return by the way thou wentest. 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 DRA He said to him: I also am a prophet like unto thee: and an angel spoke to me in the word of the Lord, saying: Bring him back with thee into thy house, that he may eat bread, and drink water. He deceived him, 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 DRA And brought him back with him: so he ate bread and drank water in his house. BSB BSB: but the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.
20 DRA And as they sat at table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet that brought him back: BSB BSB: While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back,
21 DRA And he cried out to the man of God who came out of Juda, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast not been obedient to the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, 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 DRA And hast returned and eaten bread, and drunk water in the place wherein he commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat bread, nor drink water, thy dead body shall not be brought into the sepulchre of thy fathers. 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 DRA And when he had eaten and drunk, he saddled his ass for the prophet, whom he had brought back. 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 DRA And when he was gone, a lion found him in the way, and killed him, and his body was cast in the way: and the ass stood by him, and the lion stood by the dead body. 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 DRA And behold, men passing by saw the dead body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city, wherein that old prophet dwelt. 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 DRA And when that prophet, who had brought him back out of the way, heard of it, he said: It is the man of God, that was disobedient to the mouth of the Lord, and the Lord hath delivered him to the lion, and he hath torn him, and killed him according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke to him. 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 DRA And he said to his sons: Saddle me an ass. And when they had saddled it, BSB BSB: Then the old prophet instructed his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it,
28 DRA And he was gone, he found the dead body cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass: the lion had not eaten of the dead body, nor hurt the ass. 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 DRA And the prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and going back brought it into the city of the old prophet, to mourn for him. 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 DRA And he laid his dead body in his own sepulchre: and they mourned over him, saying: Alas! alas! my brother. BSB BSB: Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they lamented over him, “Oh, my brother!”
31 DRA And when they had mourned over him, he said to his sons: When I am dead, bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried: lay my bones beside his bones. 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 DRA For assuredly the word shall come to pass which he hath foretold in the word of the Lord against the altar that is in Bethel: and against all the temples of the high places, that are in the cities of Samaria. 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 DRA After these words Jeroboam came not back from his wicked way: but on the contrary he made of the meanest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he filled his hand, and he was made a priest of the high places. 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 DRA And for this cause did the house of Jeroboam sin, and was cut off and destroyed from the face of the earth. 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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