And behold, a man of God came out of Judah to Bethel by the word of Yahweh, and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.
And he cried out against the altar by the word of Yahweh and said, “O Altar, altar, this is what Yahweh says: ‘Behold, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the shrines who burn incense on you, and they will burn human bones on you.’”
And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that Yahweh has spoken: Behold, the altar will be split apart and the ash heap that is on it will be spilled out.”
And when the king heard the words that the man of God had cried out against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” But his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up so that he could not bring it back to himself.
Also, the altar was split apart and the ash heap spilled out from the altar according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of Yahweh.
Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please appease the face of Yahweh your God and pray for me that my hand will be restored to me again.” So the man of God appeased the face of Yahweh, and the king’s hand was restored to him again and became as it was before.
Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a gift.”
But the man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half of your house I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place,
for this is what I was commanded by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘You must not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the road on which you came.’”
So he went on another road and did not return by the road on which he came to Bethel.
The Prophet's Disobedience
Now an old prophet lived 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. They also told their father the words that he had spoken to the king.
And their father said to them, “Which road did he take?” Now his sons had seen which road the man of God who came from Judah had gone.
Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode on it.
He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He said, “I am.”
Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”
But he said, “I am not to return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.
For the word to me, by the word of Yahweh, was, ‘You are not to eat bread and you are not to drink water there, and you are not to return by the road on which you came.’”
But he said to him, “I also am a prophet, like you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house, so that he can eat bread and drink water’” (but he lied to him).
So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.
And it came to pass as they sat at the table that the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who brought him back,
and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘Because you rebelled against the mouth of Yahweh and have not kept the commandment that Yahweh your God commanded you,
but came back and have eaten bread and drank water in the place of which he said to you, “Do not eat bread, and do not drink water,” your corpse will not come to the tomb of your fathers.’”
And after his eating and after his drinking, that he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.
When he went, a lion found him on the road and killed him. His corpse was thrown on the road and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse.
And behold, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road and the lion standing by the corpse, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.
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 mouth of Yahweh so Yahweh has given him to the lion, which has mauled him and slain him according to the word of Yahweh that he spoke to him.”
So he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it.
Then he went and found his corpse thrown on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing by the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse, nor mauled the donkey.
Then the prophet lifted up the corpse of the man of God and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him.
He laid his corpse in his own grave and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”
And after he had buried him he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones,
because the word that he cried out by the word of Yahweh against the altar in Bethel and against all the temples at the shrines that are in the cities of Samaria will come, yes, come to pass.”
Even after this incident, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again made priests for the shrines from among all the people. Whoever wanted to, he ordained him, so that there would be priests for the shrines.
And in this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, for which it was cut off and destroyed from the face of the earth.