1 Kings 13:11–14:18
11 Now a certain older prophet was living in Bethel, and his son came and recounted to him all of the things that the man of God had done that day in Bethel and the words he had spoken to the king, and they told them to their father. 12 Then their father asked them, “⌊Which way did he go⌋?”a His sons had seen the way which the man of God who had come from Judah had taken. 13 Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it 14 and went after the man of God. He found him sitting under the oak and said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He said, “I am.” 15 Then he said to him, “Come with me to the house and eat some food.” 16 Then he said, “I am not able to return with you or to go with you. I will not eat food nor will I drink water with you in this place. 17 For a word came to me by the word of Yahweh, ‘You shall not eat food, nor shall you drink water there. You shall not return to go by the way that you came.’ ”
18 Then he said, “I am also a prophet like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘Let him return with you to your house that he may eat food and drink water.’ ” He lied to him. 19 So he returned with him and ate food in his house and drank water.
20 Now it happened that they were sitting at the table, and the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who brought him back. 21 He proclaimed to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of Yahweh and have not kept the command which Yahweh your God commanded you, 22 but you have returned and have eaten food and drank water in the place which he ordered you not to eat food nor to drink water, then your dead body shall not return to the tomb of your ancestors.’ ”b
The Disobedient Man of God Dies
23 It happened after he ate food and drank water that he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 When he left, a lion found him on the road and killed him, and his dead body was thrown on the road with the donkey standing beside it, and the lion was standing by the dead body. 25 As men were passing by and they saw the dead body thrown in the road and the lion standing beside the dead body, they came and told it in the city where the old prophet was living. 26 When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the mouth of Yahweh, and Yahweh has given him to the lion. He tore him in pieces and killed him according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken to him.” 27 Then he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it. 28 He went and found his dead body thrown in the road and a donkey with the lion standing beside it, but the lion had not eaten the corpse nor attacked the donkey. 29 So the prophet lifted up the corpse of the man of God and put it on the donkey and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn him and to bury him. 30 He put his corpse in his tomb, and they mourned over him, “Alas, my brother!” 31 It happened after he buried him that he said to his sons, “When I die, you shall bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; you shall lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For surely, the thing which he proclaimed by the word of Yahweh against the altar which is in Bethel will happen, as it will against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria.”
33 After this event, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but he returned and again made priests for the high places of people from ⌊all walks of life⌋.c He filled his hand with all his desire and became one of the priests of the high places himself. 34 This matter became sin in the house of Jeroboam, to make it disappear and to destroy it from the surface of the earth.
Judgment for Jeroboam Continues
14 At that time, Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill. 2 Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself so that they will not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Look, Ahijah the prophet is there, and he spoke concerning me before I became king over this people. 3 You must take ten loaves of bread in your hand and cakes and a jar of honey, and you must go to him. He shall tell you what will happen to the boy.” 4 The wife of Jeroboam did so. She got up, went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah was not able to see, for ⌊his eyes were fixed⌋a because of his old age. 5 Then Yahweh said to Ahijah, “Look, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to seek a word from you about her son, for he is ill. ⌊Thus and so⌋b you shall say to her. When she comes, she will be disguising herself.” 6 It happened at the moment Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps coming through the doorway, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you making yourself unrecognizable? I have been sent a hard message for you: 7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: “Because I raised you from the midst of the people and I made you leader over my people Israel, 8 I tore the kingdom from the house of David and I gave it to you. But you were not like my servant David who kept my commandments, and who went after me with all his heart, to do only what is right in my eyes. 9 But you did more evil than all who were before you. You have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten idols to provoke me, but me you have ⌊completely disregarded⌋.c 10 Therefore, look, I am about to bring disaster upon the house of Jeroboam, and I will cut off ⌊males⌋d from Jeroboam, bond or free, in Israel. I will burn after the house of Jeroboam as one burns after the manure, until it is finished. 11 The one belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, the dogs will eat. The one who dies in the open field, the birds of the heavens will eat, for Yahweh has spoken it.” ’ 12 As for you, get up. Go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child will die. 13 All of Israel will mourn for him, and they will bury him. This one alone will come to a tomb for Jeroboam, because a good thing has been found in him by Yahweh the God of Israel in the house of Israel. 14 Yahweh will raise up a king for himself over Israel who will even now cut off the house of Jeroboam this day. 15 Yahweh will strike Israel as one shakes the reed plant in the water, and he will root Israel up from this good land that he gave to their ancestors.e He will scatter them beyond the Riverf because they have made their sacred poles which are provoking Yahweh. 16 He will give up Israel because of the sin of Jeroboam which he sinned and which he caused Israel to sin.”
17 Then the wife of Jeroboam got up, went, and came to Tirzah. As she was coming to the threshold of the house, the boy died. 18 They buried him and all of Israel mourned for him, according to the word of Yahweh which he had spoken by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.