A Prophet Condemns the Altar at Bethel
1-2 One day, Jeroboam was standing at the altar in Bethel, ready to make an offering. Suddenly one of God's prophets arrived from Judah and shouted:
The Lord sent me with a message about this altar. A child named Josiah will be born into David's family. He will sacrifice on this altar the priests who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on it.
3 You will know that the Lord has said these things when the altar splits in half, and the ashes on it fall to the ground.
4 Jeroboam pointed at the prophet and shouted, “Grab him!” But at once, Jeroboam's hand became stiff, and he could not move it. 5 The altar split in half, and the ashes fell to the ground, just as the prophet had warned.
6 “Please pray to the Lord your God and ask him to heal my hand,” Jeroboam begged.
The prophet prayed, and Jeroboam's hand was healed.
7 “Come home with me and eat something,” Jeroboam said. “I want to give you a gift for what you have done.”
8 “No, I wouldn't go with you, even if you offered me half of your kingdom. I won't eat or drink here either. 9 The Lord said I can't eat or drink anything and that I can't go home the same way I came.” 10 Then he started home down a different road.
An Old Prophet from Bethel
11 At that time an old prophet lived in Bethel, and one of his sons told him what the prophet from Judah had said and done.
12 “Show me which way he went,” the old prophet said, and his sons pointed out the road. 13 “Put a saddle on my donkey,” he told them. After they did, he got on the donkey 14 and rode off to look for the prophet from Judah.
The old prophet found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the prophet from Judah?”
“Yes, I am.”
15 “Come home with me,” the old prophet said, “and have something to eat.”
16 “I can't go back with you,” the prophet replied, “and I can't eat or drink anything with you. 17 The Lord warned me not to eat or drink or to go home the same way I came.”
18 The old prophet said, “I'm a prophet too. One of the Lord's angels told me to take you to my house and give you something to eat and drink.”
The prophet from Judah did not know that the old prophet was lying, 19 so he went home with him and ate and drank.
20 During the meal the Lord gave the old prophet 21 a message for the prophet from Judah:
Listen to the Lord's message. You have disobeyed the Lord your God. 22 He told you not to eat or drink anything here, but you came home and ate with me. And so, when you die, your body won't be buried in your family tomb.
23 After the meal the old prophet got a donkey ready, 24 and the prophet from Judah left. Along the way, a lion attacked and killed him, and the donkey and the lion stood there beside his dead body.
25 Some people walked by and saw the body with the lion standing there. They ran into Bethel, telling everyone what they had seen.
26 When the old prophet heard the news, he said, “That must be the prophet from Judah. The Lord warned him, but he disobeyed. So the Lord sent a lion to kill him.”
27 The old prophet told his sons to saddle his donkey, and when it was ready, 28 he left. He found the body lying on the road, with the donkey and lion standing there. The lion had not eaten the body or attacked the donkey. 29 The old prophet picked up the body, put it on his own donkey, and took it back to Bethel, so he could bury it and mourn for the prophet from Judah.
30 He buried the body in his own family tomb and cried for the prophet. 31 He said to his sons, “When I die, bury my body next to this prophet. 32 I'm sure that everything he said about the altar in Bethel and the shrines in Samaria will happen.”
33 But Jeroboam kept on doing evil things. He appointed men to be priests at the local shrines, even if they were not Levites. In fact, anyone who wanted to be a priest could be one. 34 This sinful thing led to the downfall of his kingdom.
1 And beholde, there came a man of God out of Iudah (by the commandement of the Lord) vnto Beth-el, and Ieroboam stoode by the altar to offer incense. 2 And he cryed against the altar by the comandement of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord, Beholde, a child shalbe borne vnto the house of Dauid, Iosiah by name, and vpon thee shall he sacrifice the Priestes of the hie places that burne incense vpon thee, and they shall burne mens bones vpon thee. 3 And he gaue a signe the same time, saying, This is the signe, that the Lord hath spoken, Behold, the altar shall rent, and the ashes that are vpon it, shall fall out. 4 And when the King had heard the saying of the man of God, which he had cryed against the altar in Beth-el, Ieroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, Lay holde on him: but his hande which he put foorth against him, dryed vp, and he could not pull it in againe to him. 5 The altar also claue asunder, and the ashes fell out from the altar, according to the signe, which the man of God had giuen by the commandement of the Lord. 6 Then the King answered, and saide vnto the man of God, I beseeche thee, pray vnto ye Lord thy God, and make intercession for me, that mine hand may bee restored vnto me. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the Kings hand was restored, and became as it was afore. 7 Then the King sayde vnto the man of God, Come home with mee, that thou mayest dyne, and I will giue thee a reward. 8 But the man of God saide vnto the King, If thou wouldest giue me halfe thine house, I would not goe in with thee, neither woulde I eate bread nor drinke water in this place. 9 For so was it charged mee by the worde of the Lord, saying, Eate no bread nor drinke water, nor turne againe by the same way that thou camest. 10 So he went another way and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el. 11 And an olde Prophet dwelt in Beth-el, and his sonnes came and tolde him all ye woorkes, that the man of God had done that day in Beth-el, and the wordes which he had spoken vnto the King, tolde they their father. 12 And their father sayde vnto them, What way went he? and his sonnes shewed him what waye the man of God went, which came from Iudah. 13 And hee saide vnto his sonnes, Saddle mee the asse. Who sadled him the asse, and hee rode thereon, 14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting vnder an oke: and he saide vnto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Iudah? And he sayd, Yea. 15 Then he said vnto him, Come home with me, and eate bread. 16 But he answered, I may not returne with thee, nor go in with thee, neither wil I eate bread nor drinke water with thee in this place. 17 For it was charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Thou shalt eate no bread, nor drinke water there, nor turne againe to goe by the way that thou wentest. 18 And he said vnto him, I am a Prophet also as thou art, and an Angel spake vnto me by the worde of the Lord, saying, Bring him againe with thee into thine house, that hee may eate bread and drinke water: but he lyed vnto him. 19 So he went againe with him, and did eate bread in his house, and dranke water. 20 And as they sate at the table, the worde of the Lord came vnto the Prophet, that brought him againe. 21 And hee cried vnto the man of God that came from Iudah, saying, Thus sayeth the Lord, Because thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandement which the Lord thy God commanded thee, 22 But camest backe againe, and hast eaten bread and drunke water in the place (whereof he did say vnto thee, Thou shalt eate no bread nor drinke any water) thy carkeis shall not come vnto the sepulchre of thy fathers. 23 And when he had eaten bread and drunke, he sadled him the asse, to wit, to the Prophet whome he had brought againe. 24 And when hee was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slewe him, and his body was cast in the way, and the asse stoode thereby: the lion stood by the corps also. 25 And beholde, men that passed by, sawe the carkeis cast in the way, and the lion standing by the corps: and they came and tolde it in ye towne where the olde Prophet dwelt. 26 And when the Prophet that brought him backe againe from the waye, hearde thereof, hee sayde, It is the man of God, who hath bene disobedient vnto the commandement of the Lord: therefore the Lord hath deliuered him vnto the lion, which hath rent him and slayne him, according to the worde of the Lord, which hee spake vnto him. 27 And he spake to his sonnes, saying, Saddle me the asse. And they sadled him. 28 And he went and founde his body cast in the way, and the asse and the lion stoode by the corps: and the lion had not eaten the bodie, nor torne the asse. 29 And the Prophet tooke vp the body of the man of God, and layed it vpon the asse, and brought it againe, and the olde Prophet came to the citie, to lament and burie him. 30 And hee layed his bodie in his owne graue, and they lamented ouer him, saying, Alas, my brother. 31 And when he had buried him, hee spake to his sonnes, saying, When I am dead, burie ye mee also in the sepulchre, wherein the man of God is buried: lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For that thing which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar that is in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the hie places, which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to passe. 33 Howbeit after this, Ieroboam conuerted not from his wicked way, but turned againe, and made of the lowest of the people Priests of the hie places. Who would, might consecrate him selfe, and be of the Priestes of the hie places. 34 And this thing turned to sinne vnto the house of Ieroboam, euen to roote it out, and destroy it from the face of the earth.