1 Just then, as Yarov‘am was standing by the altar to burn incense, a man of God came out of Y’hudah, directed to Beit-El by a word fromAdonai.
2 And by the word fromAdonaihe cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar, here is whatAdonaisays: ‘A son will be born to the house of David; his name will be Yoshiyahu; and on you he will sacrifice thecohanimof the high places who burn incense on you! They will burn human bones on you!’”
3 That same day he also gave a sign: “Here is the sign whichAdonaihas decreed:
“‘The altar will be split apart;
the ashes on it will be scattered about.’”
4 When the king heard what the man of God said, how he denounced the altar in Beit-El, Yarov‘am took his hand away from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But his hand, the one he had stretched out against him, shriveled up; so that he could not draw it back to himself.
5 Also the altar was split apart, and the ashes scattered from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word ofAdonai.
6 The king then responded to the man of God. “Ask now the favor ofAdonaiyour God,” he said, “and pray for me, that my hand will be restored to me.” The man of God prayed toAdonai, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it had been before.
7 The king then 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 replied to the king, “Even if you give me half your household, I will not accept your hospitality; nor will I eat food or drink water in this place.
9 For this is the order I received through the word ofAdonai: ‘Don’t eat food or drink water, and don’t return by the road you took when you came.’”
10 So he went another way and did not return by the road by which he had come to Beit-El.
11 Now there lived an old prophet in Beit-El; and one of his sons came and told him all the things the man of God had done that day in Beit-El; also they told their father what he had said to the king.
12 Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” For his sons had seen what road the man of God from Y’hudah had taken.
13 He then said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and, riding on it,
14 he went after the man of God. He found him sitting under a pistachio tree and said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Y’hudah?” He answered, “I am.”
15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.”
16 He replied, “I cannot return with you or partake of your hospitality, nor will I eat food or drink water with you in this place;
17 because it was said to me by the word ofAdonai, ‘You are not to eat food or drink water there, and you are not to go back by the way you came.’”
18 The other said to him, “I too am a prophet, just like you; and an angel spoke to me by the word ofAdonaiand said, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he can eat food and drink water.’” But he was lying to him.
19 So he went back with him and did eat food and drink water in his house.
20 As they were sitting at the table, the word ofAdonaicame to the prophet who had brought him back;
21 and he cried to the man of God who had come from Y’hudah, “Here is whatAdonaisays: ‘Since you rebelled against the word ofAdonaiand didn’t obey themitzvahAdonaiyour God gave you,
22 but came back and ate food and drank water in the place where he warned you not to eat food or drink water, your corpse will not arrive at the tomb of your ancestors.”
23 After he had eaten food and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back.
24 But after he had gone, a lion encountered the man of God on the road and killed him. His corpse lay there in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing next to it.
25 In time, people passed by and saw the corpse lying in the road with the lion standing next to it; and they came and told about it in the city where the old prophet lived.
26 When the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard about it, he said, “It is the man of God who rebelled against the word ofAdonai; this is whyAdonaihanded him over to the lion to tear him to pieces and kill him, in keeping with the wordAdonaispoke to him.”
27 To his sons he said, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddled it.
28 He went and found his corpse lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing next to the corpse; the lion had neither eaten the corpse nor attacked the donkey.
29 The prophet picked up the corpse of the man of God, laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city where he lived, to mourn and bury him.
30 He laid the corpse in his own burial cave, and they mourned him — “Oh! My brother!”
31 After burying him he said to his sons, “When I die, put me in the burial cave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones next to his bones.
32 For the thing he cried by the word ofAdonaiagainst the altar in Beit-El and against all the temples on the high places near the cities of Shomron will surely happen.”
33 After this, Yarov‘am did not turn back from his evil way but continued appointingcohanimfor the high places from among all the people; he consecrated anyone who wanted to be acohenof the high places.
34 This brought sin to the house of Yarov‘am that would eventually cut it off and destroy it from the face of the earth.