1 ¶ Then a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD: and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.

2 And the man of God cried against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, the LORD says this; Behold, a child named Josiah will be born to the house of David; and on you he will offer the priests of the high places who are burning incense on you, and men’s bones will be burned on you.

3 And he announced a sign at the same time, saying, This is the sign that the LORD has spoken; Behold, the altar will be broken, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.

4 And when king Jeroboam heard the words that the man of God spoke against the altar in Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And the hand that he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it back.

5 The altar was also broken, and the ashes poured out of the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

6 And the king said to the man of God, Appeal to the LORD your God, and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored again. And the man of God prayed to the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored again, and became as it was before.

7 And the king said to the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.

8 But the man of God said to the king, If you will give me half your house, I will not go in with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water in this place:

9 For I was commanded by the word of the LORD, saying, Do not eat bread, or drink water, or return by the way you came.

10 So he went another way, and did not go back by the way that he came to Bethel.

11 ¶ Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the things the man of God had done that day in Bethel: and they also told their father what he had said to the king.

12 And their father said to them, Which way did he go? For his sons had seen which way the man of God who came from Judah had gone.

13 And he said to his sons, Saddle the donkey for me. So they saddled the donkey: and he rode on it,

14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said to him, Are you the man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am.

15 Then he said to him, Come home with me, and eat bread.

16 And he said, I may not return with you, or go in with you: nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place:

17 For I was told by the word of the LORD, You shall not eat any bread or drink water there, or return by the way you came.

18 But he said to him, I 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. But he lied to him.

19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

20 And as they sat at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who brought him back:

21 And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, The LORD says, Inasmuch as you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment that the LORD your God gave you,

22 But came back, and ate bread and drank water in the place, of which the LORD said to you, Eat no bread, and drink no water; your body will never reach the tomb of your fathers.

23 ¶ So after he had eaten bread, and drank, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.

24 And after he left, a lion met him along the way, and killed him: and his body was lying on the road, and the donkey and the lion stood next to it.

25 And men passing by, saw the body lying on the road, and the lion standing by the body: and they went and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.

26 And when the prophet who had brought him back from his way heard of it, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient to the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD has delivered him to the lion, who has torn him, and killed him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke to him.

27 And he spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle the donkey for me. And they saddled it.

28 And he went and found the body lying in the road, and the donkey and lion standing by the body: the lion had not eaten the body, or torn the donkey.

29 And the prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it upon the donkey, and brought it back: and the old prophet went into his city, to mourn and bury him.

30 And he laid his body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!

31 And after he buried him, he said to his sons, When I am dead, bury me in the tomb in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:

32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines on the hilltops in the towns of Samaria, will surely come to pass.

33 After this Jeroboam did not give up his evil way, but again took men from all the people and made them priests of the hilltop shrines: he took anyone who was willing, and consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.

34 And this thing became the sin of the house of Jeroboam, that caused it to be cut off, and abolished from off the face of the earth.