HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 685
1 KINGS 14
page 315
will split apart, and its ashes will be poured out
on the ground.”
4 When King Jeroboam heard the man of God
speaking against the altar at Bethel, he pointed
at him and shouted, “Seize that man!” But instantly the king’s hand became paralyzed in that
position, and he couldn’t pull it back. 5 At the
same time a wide crack appeared in the altar,
and the ashes poured out, just as the man of
God had predicted in his message from the Lord.
6 The king cried out to the man of God, “Please
ask the Lord your God to restore my hand
again!” So the man of God prayed to the Lord,
and the king’s hand was restored and he could
move it again.
7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come
to the palace with me and have something to
eat, and I will give you a gift.”
8 But the man of God said to the king, “Even if
you gave me half of everything you own, I would
not go with you. I would not eat or drink anything in this place. 9 For the Lord gave me this
command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything
while you are there, and do not return to Judah
by the same way you came.’” 10 So he left Bethel
and went home another way.
11 As it happened, there was an old prophet
living in Bethel, and his sons* came home
and told him what the man of God had done
in Bethel that day. They also told their father
what the man had said to the king. 12 The old
prophet asked them, “Which way did he go?” So
they showed their father* which road the man
of God had taken. 13 “Quick, saddle the donkey,”
the old man said. So they saddled the donkey
for him, and he mounted it.
14 Then he rode after the man of God and
found him sitting under a great tree. The old
prophet asked him, “Are you the man of God
who came from Judah?”
“Yes, I am,” he replied.
15 Then he said to the man of God, “Come
home with me and eat some food.”
16 “No, I cannot,” he replied. “I am not allowed to eat or drink anything here in this
place. 17 For the Lord gave me this command:
‘You must not eat or drink anything while you
are there, and do not return to Judah by the
same way you came.’”
18 But the old prophet answered, “I am a
prophet, too, just as you are. And an angel gave
me this command from the Lord: ‘Bring him
home with you so he can have something to eat
and drink.’” But the old man was lying to him.
19 So they went back together, and the man of
God ate and drank at the prophet’s home.
20 Then while they were sitting at the table,
a command from the Lord came to the old
prophet. 21 He cried out to the man of God from
13:11 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads son.
Greek version; Hebrew reads They had seen.
13:12 As in
Judah, “This is what the Lord says: You have
defied the word of the Lord and have disobeyed
the command the Lord your God gave you.
22 You came back to this place and ate and drank
where he told you not to eat or drink. Because of
this, your body will not be buried in the grave of
your ancestors.”
23 After the man of God had finished eating
and drinking, the old prophet saddled his own
donkey for him, 24 and the man of God started
off again. But as he was traveling along, a lion
came out and killed him. His body lay there on
the road, with the donkey and the lion standing
beside it. 25 People who passed by saw the body
lying in the road and the lion standing beside it,
and they went and reported it in Bethel, where
the old prophet lived.
26 When the prophet heard the report, he said,
“It is the man of God who disobeyed the Lord’s
command. The Lord has fulfilled his word by
causing the lion to attack and kill him.”
27 Then the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle
a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey,
28 and he went out and found the body lying in
the road. The donkey and lion were still standing there beside it, for the lion had not eaten the
body nor attacked the donkey. 29 So the prophet
laid the body of the man of God on the donkey
and took it back to the town to mourn over him
and bury him. 30 He laid the body in his own
grave, crying out in grief, “Oh, my brother!”
31 Afterward the prophet said to his sons,
“When I die, bury me in the grave where the
man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his
bones. 32 For the message the Lord told him to
proclaim against the altar in Bethel and against
the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria will
certainly come true.”
33 But even after this, Jeroboam did not turn
from his evil ways. He continued to choose
priests from the common people. He appointed
anyone who wanted to become a priest for the
pagan shrines. 34 This became a great sin and
resulted in the utter destruction of Jeroboam’s
dynasty from the face of the earth.
Ahijah’s Prophecy against Jeroboam
At that time Jeroboam’s son Abijah became very sick. 2 So Jeroboam told his
wife, “Disguise yourself so that no one will recognize you as my wife. Then go to the prophet
Ahijah at Shiloh—the man who told me I would
become king. 3 Take him a gift of ten loaves of
bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and ask
him what will happen to the boy.”
4 So Jeroboam’s wife went to Ahijah’s home at
Shiloh. He was an old man now and could no
longer see. 5 But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife will come here, pretending to be
someone else. She will ask you about her son, for
he is very sick. Give her the answer I give you.”
14