¹ And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of Jehovah to Bethel. And Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.

² And he cried against the altar by the word of Jehovah, and said, O altar, altar, thus says Jehovah: Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. And upon thee shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones they shall burn upon thee.

³ And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which Jehovah has spoken: Behold, the altar shall be torn, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.

⁴ And it came to pass, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to him.

⁵ The altar also was torn, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of Jehovah.

⁶ And the king answered and said to the man of God, Entreat now the favor of Jehovah thy God, and pray for me that my hand may be restored to me again. And the man of God entreated Jehovah, and the king's hand was restored to him again, and became as it was before.

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

⁸ And the man of God said to the king, If thou will give me half thy house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place;

⁹ for so it was charged me by the word of Jehovah, saying, Thou shall eat no bread, nor drink water, neither return by the way that thou came.

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

¹¹ Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel. And one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. The words which he had spoken to the king, they also told them to their father.

¹² And their father said to them, What way did he go? Now his sons had seen what way the man of God went, who came from Judah.

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

¹⁴ And he went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, Are thou 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 thee, nor go in with thee. Neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place;

¹⁷ for it was said to me by the word of Jehovah, Thou shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou came.

¹⁸ And he said to him, I also am a prophet as thou are. And an agent spoke to me by the word of Jehovah, saying, Bring him back with thee into thy house 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 it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of Jehovah came to the prophet who brought him back.

²¹ And he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, Thus says Jehovah, Forasmuch as thou have been disobedient to the mouth of Jehovah, and have not kept the commandment which Jehovah thy God commanded thee,

²² but came back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water, thy body shall not come to the sepulcher of thy fathers.

²³ And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, namely, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

²⁴ And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and killed him. And his body was cast in the way, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body.

²⁵ And, behold, men passed by, and saw the body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

²⁶ And when the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, It is the man of God who was disobedient to the mouth of Jehovah. Therefore Jehovah has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him, and slain him, according to the word of Jehovah 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 his body cast in the way, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body, nor 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 he came to the city of the old prophet, to mourn, and to bury him.

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

³¹ And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulcher 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 Jehovah against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.

³³ After this thing Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again made from among all the people priests of the high places. Whoever would, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places.

³⁴ And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.