13Right when Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn some incense, a man of God arrived in Bethel from Judah in obedience to a command from the Lord.H935H376H430H3063H1697H3068H1008H3379H5975H4196H6999 2He cursed the altar in this message from the Lord: "Hey altar! Hey altar! This is what the Lord says: 'Pay attention to this! A son is going to be born in David's dynasty. His name will be Josiah. He will sacrifice the priests who burn incense on you in these high places. Human bones will be burned on you!'"H7121H4196H1697H3068H559H4196H4196H559H3068H1121H3205H1004H1732H2977H8034H2076H3548H1116H6999H120H6106H8313 3Later that same day, he gave them a special display of power of what was to come when he said, "Here's proof that the Lord has decreed this: Look! This altar will be split apart and the ashes that are on it will spill out."H5414H4159H3117H559H4159H3068H1696H4196H7167H1880H8210 4When he heard the man of God curse the altar in Bethel, the king pointed at the man of God from where the king was standing at the altar. "Seize him!" he ordered. But all of a sudden his hand that he had stretched out dried up, and he could not bring it back to his side!H4428H3379H8085H1697H376H430H7121H4196H1008H7971H3027H4196H559H8610H3027H7971H3001H3201H7725 5Also, the altar broke apart and the ashes that were on it spilled out from the altar, providing just the proof that the man of God had predicted in his message from the Lord!H4196H7167H1880H8210H4196H4159H376H430H5414H1697H3068 6"Please!" the king begged the man of God, "Ask the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored for me!" So the man of God asked the Lord, and the king's hand was immediately and fully restored, just like it had been before.H4428H6030H559H376H430H2470H6440H3068H430H6419H3027H7725H376H430H2470H6440H3068H4428H3027H7725H7223 7So the king told the man of God, "Come back to my palace and rest a while. I'd like to give you a reward."H4428H1696H376H430H935H1004H5582H5414H4991 8But the man of God replied to the king, "Even if you were to offer me half of your house, I wouldn't go with you, and I'm sure not going to eat even a piece of bread or drink water in this place,H376H430H559H4428H5414H2677H1004H935H398H3899H8354H4325H4725 9because the Lord commanded me specifically, 'You are not to eat bread, drink water, or return by the way that you came to arrive here!'"H6680H1697H3068H559H398H3899H8354H4325H7725H1870H1980 10Then he left, returning a different way than the one by which he had traveled to Bethel.H3212H312H1870H7725H1870H935H1008 11Now there was an old prophet who lived in Bethel, and his sons went to him and told him everything that the man of God had accomplished that day in Bethel, including the message that he had delivered to the king.H3427H259H2205H5030H1008H1121H935H5608H4639H376H430H6213H3117H1008H1697H1696H4428H5608H1 12"Which way did he go?" their father asked him, since his sons had observed the way that the man of God had taken to return to Judah from Bethel.H1H1696H1870H1980H1121H7200H335H1870H376H430H1980H935H3063 13"Saddle my donkey for me!" he ordered. So they saddled the donkey for himH559H1121H2280H2543H2280H2543H7392 14and he rode off after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. "You're the man of God who came from Judah, aren't you?" the old prophet asked him. "I am," he replied.H3212H310H376H430H4672H3427H424H559H376H430H935H3063H559 15"Come home with me and have a meal," he said to him.H559H3212H1004H398H3899 16But he replied, "I can't go back with you to your home, be in your company, or even eat food or drink water with you in this place,H559H3201H7725H935H398H3899H8354H4325H4725 17because I've been given a command in the form of this message from the Lord: 'You are to eat no food, drink no water, and do not return to Judah by traveling the way by which you go there.'"H1697H1697H3068H398H3899H8354H4325H7725H3212H1870H1980 18"I'm a prophet like you," the old man replied, "and an angel spoke to me and delivered this message from the Lord: 'Bring him back with you to your house and give him food and water.'" But he was lying,H559H5030H4397H1696H1697H3068H559H7725H1004H398H3899H8354H4325H3584 19and the man of God accompanied the old prophet back to his house, ate some food, and drank some water.H7725H398H3899H1004H8354H4325 20Later, while they were sitting down at the table, a message from the Lord was delivered to the prophet who had brought him back,H3427H7979H1697H3068H5030H7725 21so he cried out to the man of God from Judah: "This is what the Lord says: 'Because you disobeyed a command from the Lord and haven't done what the Lord your God commanded you to do,H7121H376H430H935H3063H559H559H3068H3282H4784H6310H3068H8104H4687H3068H430H6680 22but instead you returned to eat and drink in the very place that he told you "Eat no food and drink no water," your body will not be buried in the same grave as your ancestors.'"H7725H398H3899H8354H4325H4725H1696H398H3899H8354H4325H5038H935H6913H1 23After the meal was over, and the man had eaten food and had drunk water, the old prophet saddled the donkey for him - that is, for the man of God whom he had brought back.H310H398H3899H310H8354H2280H2543H5030H7725 24Not long after the man of God had left, a lion met him along the road and killed him. His body was left lying in the middle of the road with the donkey standing beside it and with the lion also standing next to the body.H3212H738H4672H1870H4191H5038H7993H1870H2543H5975H681H738H5975H5038 25When some men passed by and noticed the body lying in the middle of the road and the lion standing beside the body, they went straight to the city and told what had happened in the city where the old prophet lived.H582H5674H7200H5038H7993H1870H738H5975H681H5038H935H1696H5892H2205H5030H3427 26The prophet who had brought the man of God back from the road learned about it. "It's the man of God who disobeyed the message from the Lord," he said. "That's why the Lord gave him to that lion, which mauled him and killed him, just as the message from the Lord said to rebuke him."H5030H7725H1870H8085H559H376H430H4784H6310H3068H3068H5414H738H7665H4191H1697H3068H1696 27Then he ordered his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they did.H1696H1121H559H2280H2543H2280 28The old prophet went out, located the body on the road where the donkey and the lion were standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body nor mauled the donkey.H3212H4672H5038H7993H1870H2543H738H5975H681H5038H738H398H5038H7665H2543 29The prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to the city where the old man lived so he could mourn and bury him.28H5030H5375H5038H376H430H3240H2543H7725H2205H5030H935H5892H5594H6912 30He buried the corpse in his own grave and his family mourned for him, crying out, "Oh, no! My brother!"H3240H5038H6913H5594H1945H251 31After he had buried the man of God, he gave these instructions to his children: "When I die, bury me in the same grave in which the man of God is buried. Place my bones beside his,H310H6912H559H1121H559H4191H6912H6913H376H430H6912H3240H6106H681H6106 32because what he predicted by a message from the Lord against the altar in Bethel and the temples built in the high places of the cities of Samaria will certainly come about."13H1697H7121H1697H3068H4196H1008H1004H1116H5892H8111 33Despite everything that happened, Jeroboam never did repent of his evil practices. Instead, he appointed even more people to act as priests for the high places. Anyone who wanted to be a priest was ordained to be a priest in the high places.H310H1697H3379H7725H7451H1870H6213H7725H7098H5971H3548H1116H2655H4390H3027H3548H1116 34This practice became so sinful that the Lord decided to erase Jeroboam's dynasty, thus eliminating it from the face of the earth.H1697H2403H1004H3379H3582H8045H6440H127
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