Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

A man of God came out of Judah by the Lord's word to Bethel, where Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. He cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, saying, "O altar, thus says the Lord: Behold, a child shall be born to David's house, Josiah by name; and upon you he will offer the priests who burn incense on you, and men's bones will be burned on you."

He gave a sign that day, saying, "This is the sign the Lord has spoken: Behold, the altar will be torn apart, and the ashes on it will be poured out." When King Jeroboam heard the man of God crying out against the altar in Bethel, he reached out from the altar and ordered his attendants to seize him. But his hand withered and could not be pulled back.

The altar was torn apart, and its ashes spilled out, just as the man of God had indicated by the Lord's word. The king answered and said to the man of God, "Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me that my hand may be restored again." The man of God prayed to the Lord, and the king's hand was restored to him again, becoming as it was before.

The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward." But the man of God replied, "Even if you gave me half your house, I would not go in with you; for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'Eat no bread nor drink water in this place.'" He went another way and did not return by the path on which he had come to Bethel.

An old prophet lived in Bethel, and his sons came to him, telling all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel, including the words he spoke to the king. The old prophet said to them, "Which way did he go?" For his sons had seen which way the man of God went, who came from Judah.

He said to his sons, "Saddle me the donkey." So they saddled him the donkey, and he rode on it. And he went after the man of God, finding him sitting under an oak tree; and he said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" He replied, "I am."

He said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread." But the man of God replied, "I may not return with you, nor go in with you; I will not eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, 'You shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that you came.'"

The old prophet tried to persuade him, saying, "I am also a prophet like you; an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'Bring him back with you into your house.'" The man of God was deceived and went back with him to eat bread in his house.

As they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the old prophet who had brought him back, saying, "Come home with me and eat bread." But this time, it was a trap. The man of God cried out to the old prophet, saying, "This is what the Lord says: Because you have disobeyed the Lord's command and not kept the order he gave you.

"But you returned and ate bread and drank water in the place where the Lord had forbidden you, saying, 'Eat no bread and drink no water; your corpse will not be buried with your fathers.'" After eating, the man of God saddled his donkey to take back the old prophet whom he had brought.

A lion met him on the road and killed him. His body was left lying there with the donkey standing nearby, and the lion also stood by the body. Men passed by and saw the body cast in the way with a lion standing beside it.

When the old prophet who had brought him back heard of his death, he said that it was the man of God who had disobeyed the word of the Lord, and so the Lord had given him over to a lion, which had torn him apart as the Lord had spoken unto him. He spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle me the donkey," and they saddled him.

He went and found the man of God's body cast in the way, with the donkey standing by it, but the lion had not eaten the body nor torn the donkey. The old prophet took up the lifeless body of the man of God and laid it on his donkey; he then brought it back to the city.

There, the old prophet mourned and buried him in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!" After he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, "When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

"For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass." After this thing, Jeroboam did not turn back from his evil way, but instead made more priests of the high places from among the lowest people.

He consecrated anyone who wanted to be one and made them a priest of the high places. This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off and destroy it from the face of the earth.