³That same day the man of God spoke about a miraculous sign. He said, “Here is the sign the Lord has announced. This altar will be broken to pieces. The ashes on it will be spilled out.”

⁴The man of God announced that message against the altar at Bethel. When King Jeroboam heard it, he reached out his hand from the altar. He said, “Grab him!” But as he reached out his hand toward the man, it dried up. He couldn’t even pull it back.

⁵Also, the altar broke into pieces. Its ashes spilled out. That happened in keeping with the miraculous sign the man of God had announced. He had received a message from the Lord.

⁶King Jeroboam spoke to the man of God. He said, “Pray to the Lord your God for me. Pray that my hand will be as good as new again.”

So the man of God prayed to the Lord for the king. And the king’s hand became as good as new. It was just as healthy as it had been before.

⁷The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me. Have something to eat. I’ll give you a gift.”

⁸But the man of God replied to the king. He said, “What if you were to give me half of what you own? Even then I wouldn’t go with you. I wouldn’t eat bread or drink water here. ⁹The Lord gave me a command. He said, ‘Do not eat bread or drink water there. Do not return the same way you came.’ ” ¹⁰So he took another road. He didn’t go back on the same road he had taken when he came to Bethel.

¹¹An old prophet was living in Bethel. His sons came and spoke to him. They told him everything the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what the man had said to the king.

¹²Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?”

His sons showed him the road the man of God from Judah had taken.

¹³So he said to his sons, “Put a saddle on the donkey for me.”

When they had done it, he got on the donkey. ¹⁴He traveled on the same road the man of God had taken. He found the man sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

“I am,” he replied.

¹⁵So the prophet said to him, “Come home with me. I’ll give you something to eat.”

¹⁶The man of God said, “I can’t go back to Bethel with you. I can’t eat bread or drink water with you there. ¹⁷I’ve received a message from the Lord. He told me, ‘Do not eat bread or drink water there. Do not return the same way you came.’ ”

¹⁸The old prophet answered, “I’m also a prophet, just like you. An angel gave me a message from the Lord. The message said, ‘Bring the man of God back with you to your house. Then he can eat bread and drink water with you.’ ” But the old prophet was telling him a lie.

¹⁹The man of God returned with him. He ate and drank in his house.

²⁰They were sitting at the table. The Lord gave a message to the old prophet who had brought the man of God back. ²¹He cried out to the man who had come from Judah. He told him, “The Lord says, ‘You have not done what I told you to do. You have not obeyed the command I gave you. I am the Lord your God.

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