1And at the command of the LORD, a man of God came out of Judah to Bethel; as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. 2And by the word of the LORD, he cried out against the altar and said, “O altar, altar, this is what the LORD says, ‘Behold, a child named Josiah shall be born to the house of David; and upon you, altar, shall Josiah offer the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you; and men's bones shall be burned upon you.’” 3And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the LORD has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.’” 4And when King Jeroboam heard what the man of God had cried out against the altar in Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar, and said, “Seize him.” And the hand which he stretched out toward the man of God shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. 5The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from it, in accordance with the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. 6And then King Jeroboam said to the man of God, “Intercede to the LORD your God for me now, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God prayed to the LORD, and the king's hand was restored, and became as it was before. 7And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” 8But the man of God told the king, “If you would give me half your house, I will not go in with you, nor will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: 9For this is what was commanded me by the word of the LORD, ‘Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor return to Judah by the same way that you came’”. 10So he returned by another way from the way by which he had come to Bethel.

11Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day. They also told him what he had said to Jeroboam. 12And their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons had seen and told him the way the man of God from Judah had gone. 13And he said, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey; and he mounted it, 14And rode after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak; and said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” 15Then he told him, “Come home with me, and eat bread.” 16And he said, “I may not return with you, nor go in with you; nor will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place: 17For the LORD told me, ‘You shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor return the same way that you came’. 18He replied, “I am a prophet just as you are; and an angel spoke this word to me by the LORD, ‘Bring him back to your house with you, that he may eat bread and drink water’. But he was lying to him. 19So the man of God returned with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.

20And, as they sat at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back. 21And he cried out to the man of God from Judah, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have defied the command which the LORD your God gave you, 22And came back, have eaten bread and drunk water in the place, where the LORD told you, “Eat no bread, and drink no water”; your body shall not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.’” 23And after he had eaten bread, and had drunk, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. 24And as he went on his way, a lion met him on the road, and killed him; and his body was left lying in the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing by his body. 25And when people passed by, and saw his body lying in the road, with the lion standing by it, they came and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived. 26And when the prophet heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God, who disobeyed to the word of the LORD; that is why the LORD has delivered him to the lion that mauled and killed him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke to him.” 27And he told his sons, “Saddle me the donkey.” And they saddled the donkey. 28And he went and found his body lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body, nor torn the donkey. 29And the prophet took up the body of the man of God, laid it upon the donkey, and brought it back to the city, to mourn and to bury him. 30And he laid his body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” 31And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I am dead, bury me in the same tomb where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones: 32For what he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines of the high places in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.”

33And even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways; but continued to appointed priests of the high places out of the lowest class of people. Whoever wished, Jeroboam appointed to became a priest of the high places. 34And this was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to it being cut off, and to its destruction from the face of the earth.