1Look, a man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.
2The man called out against the altar by the word of the LORD. He said, "Altar, altar, this is what the LORD says: Look, a child will be born to the house of David, and his name will be Josiah. He will offer up on you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones will be burned on you."
3That same day he gave a sign. He said, "This is the sign the LORD has spoken: Look, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes on it will be poured out."
4When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God said, calling out against the altar in Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him." But the hand he stretched out against him dried up, and he could not pull it back again.
5The altar was also split apart, and the ashes were poured out from the altar. This happened just as the sign the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.
6Then the king said to the man of God, "Please plead with the LORD your God, and pray for me, so that my hand may be made well again." So the man of God prayed to the LORD, and the king's hand was made well again and became as it was before.
7The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and have some food, and I will give you a reward."
8But the man of God said to the king, "Even if you gave me half your house, I would not go in with you. I will not eat bread or drink water in this place."
9"For this is what I was commanded by the word of the LORD: 'Eat no bread, drink no water, and do not go back by the same way you came.'"
10So he went another way, and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
11Now an old prophet lived in Bethel. His sons came and told him everything the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words he had spoken to the king.
12Their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" His sons had seen which way the man of God who came from Judah had gone.
13He said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him, and he rode on it.
14He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. He said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" He said, "I am."
15Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread."
16He said, "I cannot go back with you or go in with you. I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place."
17"For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, 'You shall eat no bread and drink no water there, and you shall not go back by the way you came.'"
18He said to him, "I am a prophet too, just as you are. An angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD and said, 'Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.'" But he was lying to him.
19So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.
20While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back.
21He called out to the man of God who had come from Judah, "This is what the LORD says: Because you have disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you,"
22"but came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he said to you, 'Eat no bread and drink no water,' your body will not come to the tomb of your fathers."
23After he had eaten bread and had drunk, the prophet who had brought him back saddled the donkey for him.
24When he had gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body was thrown down on the road, and the donkey stood beside it, and the lion also stood beside the body.
25Look, some men passed by and saw the body thrown down on the road, with the lion standing beside the body. They came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.
26When the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard about it, he said, "It is the man of God, who disobeyed the word of the LORD. So the LORD has handed him over to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, just as the word of the LORD said to him."
27He spoke to his sons and said, "Saddle the donkey for me." And they saddled it.
28He went and found his body thrown down on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey.
29The prophet lifted up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back. The old prophet came to the city to mourn for him and to bury him.
30He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him and said, "Alas, my brother."
31After he had buried him, he spoke to his sons and said, "When I am dead, bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones."
32"For the message he called out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places in the cities of Samaria, will surely come true."
33After this Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way. He again made priests of the high places from among the lowest of the people. Anyone who wanted it, he set apart, and that man became one of the priests of the high places.
34This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, to cut it off and destroy it from the face of the earth.