1 Kings 13

A man of God came from Judah by the word of Allah to Bethel: and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. ²The man of God cried against the altar by the word of Allah, and said, Altar, altar, thus says Allah: Behold, a son shall be born to the house of Dawud, Josiah by name; and on you shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall they burn on you. ³He gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which Allah has spoken: Behold, the altar shall split apart, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out. ⁴It happened, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. His hand, which he put forth against the man of God, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to himself. ⁵The altar also split apart, and the ashes were poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of Allah. ⁶The king answered the man of God, Ask now for the favour of Allah your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored. The man of God asked Allah, and the king's hand was restored and became as it was before. ⁷The king said to the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward. ⁸The man of God said to the king, Even if you offer me half your house, I will not go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place; ⁹for so was it charged me by the word of Allah, saying, You shall eat no bread, nor drink water, neither return by the way that you came. ¹⁰So he went another way, and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel. ¹¹Now there lived an old prophet 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 which he had spoken to the king. ¹²Their father said to them, Which way did he go? Now his sons had seen which way the man of God from Judah went. ¹³He said to his sons, Saddle the donkey for me. So they saddled the donkey, and he rode on it. ¹⁴He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak tree. The old prophet said to him, Are you the man of God who came from Judah? He said, I am. ¹⁵Then the old prophet said to him, Come home with me, and eat bread. ¹⁶The man of God said, I may not return with you, nor go in with you; neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place: ¹⁷for it was said to me by the word of Allah, You shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that you came. ¹⁸The old prophet said to him, I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by the word of Allah, saying, Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But the old prophet lied to him. ¹⁹So he went back with the old prophet, and ate bread in his house, and drank water. ²⁰As they sat at the table, the word of Allah came to the prophet who brought him back; ²¹and he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, Thus says Allah, Because you have been disobedient to the mouth of Allah, and have not kept the commandment which Allah your God commanded you, ²²but came back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, Eat no bread, and drink no water; your body shall not be buried in the tomb of your fathers. ²³After he had finished eating and drinking, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the man of God whom he had brought back. ²⁴When the man of God was gone, a lion attacked him on the way, and killed him: and his body was thrown down on the road, and the donkey stood by it; the lion also stood by the body. ²⁵Behold, men passed by, and saw the body lying on the road, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived. ²⁶When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient to the mouth of Allah: therefore Allah has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him, and slain him, according to the word of Allah, which he spoke to him. ²⁷He spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle the donkey for me. They saddled it. ²⁸He went and found his body lying on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body: the lion had not eaten the body, nor torn the donkey. ²⁹The prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn, and to bury him. ³⁰He laid the body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother! ³¹After he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, When I am dead, bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. ³²For the message which he declared by the word of Allah against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places in the cities of Samaria, shall surely happen. ³³Even after this thing Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again appointed priests for the high places from among all the people: whoever would, he consecrated him, that there might be priests for the high places. ³⁴This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.