Jeroboam’s Hand Withers (2 Kings 23:4–20; 2 Chronicles 34:3–7)
1 ULT And behold, a man of God came from Judah by the word of Yahweh to Bethel. And Jeroboam was standing by the altar 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 ULT And he cried out against the altar by the word of Yahweh and said:“Altar! Altar! Thus says Yahweh,‘Behold, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah{ will be} his name. And he will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places, the ones burning incense on you. And they will burn the bones of a human on you.’” 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 ULT And he gave a sign on that day, saying,“This{ is} the sign that Yahweh has spoken,‘Behold, the altar will be split open, and the ash that{ is} on it will 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 ULT And it happened, when the king heard the word of the man of God that he had cried out against the altar at Bethel, that Jeroboam stretched out his hand from over the altar, saying,“Seize him!” And his hand that he had stretched out against him dried up, and he was not able to bring it back to himself. 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 ULT And the altar was split open, and the ash was poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of Yahweh. 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 ULT And the king answered and said to the man of God,“Entreat, please, the face of Yahweh your God and pray for me, that my hand may return to me.” And the man of God entreated the face of Yahweh, and the hand of the king returned to him, and it became like at the first. 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 ULT And the king spoke to the man of God,“Come with me to the house and refresh yourself, and I will give a gift to you.” 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 ULT But the man of God said to the king,“If you gave half of your house to me, I would not come with you, and I would not eat bread and I would not 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 ULT For thus he has commanded me by the word of Yahweh, saying,‘You shall not eat bread, and you shall not drink water, and you shall not return by the road{ by} which you went.’” 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 ULT And he went by another road, and he did not return by the road{ by} which he had come to 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 ULT Now an old prophet was dwelling in Bethel, and his son came, and he recounted to him all of the deed that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. The words that he had spoken to the king, also they recounted them to their father. 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 ULT And their father spoke to them,“Where{ is} this, the road he walked?” Now his sons had seen the road that the man of God had walked who had come from Judah. 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 ULT And he said to his sons,“Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted on it. 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 ULT And he went after the man of God, and he found him sitting under the oak tree. And he said to him,“{ Are} you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said,“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 ULT And he said to him,“Go with me to the house and eat bread.” BSB BSB: So the prophet said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat some bread.”
16 ULT And he said,“I am not able to return with you or to come with you. And I will not eat bread and I will not drink water with you 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 ULT For a word{ was} to me by the word of Yahweh,‘You shall not eat bread and you shall not drink water there. You shall not return to go by the road by which you went.’” 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 ULT And he said to him,“I also{ am} a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying,‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’”(He lied to 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 ULT And he returned with him, and he ate bread in his house and drank water. BSB BSB: but the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.
20 ULT And it happened,{ as} they were sitting at the table, that the word of Yahweh{ was} to the prophet who had 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 ULT And he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, saying,“Thus says Yahweh,‘Because you have disobeyed the mouth of Yahweh and you have not kept the command that Yahweh your God commanded you, 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 ULT and you have returned and you have eaten bread and you have drunk water in the place{ about} which he spoke to you,“You shall not eat bread and you shall not drink water,” your corpse shall not enter into the grave of your 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 ULT And it happened after his eating bread and after his drinking that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet, him 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 ULT And he went, and a lion found him in the road, and it killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it, and the lion was 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 ULT And behold, men were passing by, and they saw the corpse thrown in the road and the lion standing beside the corpse. And they came and spoke in the city in which the old prophet was dwelling. 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 ULT And the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard, and he said,“He is the man of God who disobeyed the mouth of Yahweh. And Yahweh gave him to the lion, and it tore him apart and killed him, according to the word of Yahweh that 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 ULT And he spoke to his sons, saying,“Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. BSB BSB: Then the old prophet instructed his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it,
28 ULT And he went, and he found the corpse thrown in the road and the donkey and the lion standing beside the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse, and it had not torn apart 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 ULT And the prophet lifted up the corpse of the man of God, and he laid it on the donkey, and he brought it back. And he entered into the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury 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 ULT And he laid his corpse in his grave. And they mourned over him,“Alas, my brother!” BSB BSB: Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they lamented over him, “Oh, my brother!”
31 ULT And it happened after his burying him that he spoke to his sons, saying,“When I die, then you shall bury me in the grave in which 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 ULT For the word that he cried out by the word of Yahweh against the altar that{ is} in Bethel and against all of the houses of the high places that{ are} in the cities of Samaria, happening, it will 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 ULT After this matter Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but he returned and made priests of the high places from the extremities of the people. The one desiring, he would fill his hand, and he became priests 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 ULT And it became in this thing a sin of the house of Jeroboam, both to annihilate and to destroy from upon the face of the ground. 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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