²By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah^x will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places^y who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’ ” ³That same day the man of God gave a sign:^z “This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.”

⁴When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. ⁵Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord.

⁶Then the king said to the man of God, “Intercede^a with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.

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Cross references

x 2 Ki 23:15–16, 20; 2 Ch 34:5
ySee Lev 26:30
zSee Ge 24:14; See Ex 4:8; See Jn 2:11
aSee Ge 20:7; See Nu 11:2; See Jer 37:3; Ac 8:24