1 Just then a man of God arrived at Bethel from Judah by the word of the LORD, as Jeroboam stood beside the altar to burn incense.
2 By the word of the LORD he called out against the altar: "Altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to David's house, and on you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you; men's bones will be burned on you.'"
3 That same day he gave a sign: "This is the sign the LORD has declared: the altar will split apart, and the ashes on it will spill out."
4 When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God called out against the altar in Bethel, he thrust out his hand from the altar and said, "Arrest him!" But the hand he had thrust out against him withered, and he could not pull it back.
5 The altar too split apart and the ashes spilled from the altar, as the man of God had signaled by the word of the LORD.
6 The king then said to the man of God, "Please plead with the LORD your God and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored." The man of God pleaded with the LORD, and the king's hand was restored and became as it had been.
7 The king told the man of God, "Come home with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift."
8 The man of God answered the king, "Even if you gave me half your house, I would not go with you, and I will not eat bread or drink water here.
9 For the word of the LORD gave me this command: 'Do not eat bread or drink water, and do not go back the way you came.'"
10 So he took a different road and did not go back by the road on which he had come to Bethel.
11 An old prophet lived in Bethel. His son came and told him everything the man of God had done there that day in Bethel, and they also reported to their father what he had said to the king.
12 Their father asked them, "Which road did he take?" His sons had seen the road taken by the man of God who had come from Judah.
13 He told his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." They saddled the donkey, and he got on it
14 and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" "I am," he said.
15 He told him, "Come home with me and eat some bread."
16 He answered, "I may not turn back with you or go in with you; I will not eat bread or drink water with you here.
17 For a word came to me by the word of the LORD: 'Do not eat bread or drink water there, and do not return by the road you went on.'"
18 The other said to him, "I too am a prophet like you. An angel told me by the word of the LORD, 'Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.'" He was lying to him.
19 So he turned back with him, and he ate bread and drank water in his house.
20 As they sat at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back,
21 and he called out to the man of God who had come from Judah, "This is what the LORD says: 'Since you have defied the mouth of the LORD and did not keep the command the LORD your God gave you,
22 but turned back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat bread or drink water, your corpse will not come into your fathers' tomb.'"
23 When he had eaten bread and had drunk, the prophet who had brought him back saddled the donkey for him.
24 He went on his way, and a lion came upon him on the road and killed him. His corpse lay flung on the road, with the donkey standing next to it and the lion standing next to the corpse.
25 Men came by and saw the corpse flung on the road and the lion standing next to the corpse, and they went and reported it in the town where the old prophet lived.
26 The prophet who had brought him back from his way heard it and said, "It is the man of God who defied the mouth of the LORD. The LORD has handed him over to the lion, and it has mauled him and killed him, as the LORD's word to him said."
27 He told his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me," and they saddled it.
28 He went and found the corpse flung on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing next to it. The lion had neither eaten the corpse nor mauled the donkey.
29 The prophet lifted up the corpse of the man of God, put it on the donkey and brought it back; and he came into the old prophet's town to mourn him and bury him.
30 He placed the corpse in his own tomb, and they lamented over him, "Oh, my brother!"
31 After burying him, he told his sons, "When I die, bury me in the tomb where the man of God lies buried. Put my bones next to his bones.
32 For the word he called out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true."
33 Even after this, Jeroboam did not turn back from his evil way. Once more he made priests for the high places from among all the people; anyone who wished, he consecrated him to be one of the priests of the high places.
34 This matter became the sin of Jeroboam's house, enough to cut it off and wipe it from the face of the earth.