A Prophet Disobeys God

¹¹ An old prophet was living in Bethel. His sons told him everything the man of God did in Bethel that day and the exact words he had spoken to the king. When they told their father, ¹² he said to them, “Which road did he take?” (His sons had seen which road the man of God from Judah had taken.) ¹³ The old prophet told his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” After they had saddled the donkey for him, he got on it.

¹⁴ He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. The old prophet asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

“Yes,” he answered.

¹⁵ “Come home with me, and eat a meal,” the old prophet replied.

¹⁶ The man of God said, “I’m not allowed to go back with you. I’m not allowed to eat or drink with you. ¹⁷ When the Lord spoke to me, he told me not to eat or drink there or go back on the road I took to get there.”

¹⁸ The old prophet said, “I’m also a prophet, like you. An angel spoke the Lord’s word to me. He said, ‘Bring him home with you so that he may have something to eat and drink.’ ” (But the old prophet was lying.)

¹⁹ The man of God went back with him and ate and drank in his home. ²⁰ When they were sitting at the table, the Lord spoke his word to the old prophet who had brought back the man of God. ²¹ The Lord also called to the man of God. He said, “This is what the Lord says: You rebelled against the words from the Lord’s mouth and didn’t obey the command that the Lord your God gave you. ²² You came back, ate, and drank at this place about which he told you, ‘Don’t eat or drink there.’ That is why your dead body will not be allowed to be placed in the tomb of your ancestors.”

²³ After the old prophet had something to eat and drink, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴ The man of God left. A lion found him ⌞as he traveled⌟ on the road and killed him. His dead body was thrown on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing by the body. ²⁵ People who passed by saw the body lying on the road and the lion standing by the body. They talked about it in the city where the old prophet was living.

²⁶ When the old prophet who had brought the man of God back from the road heard about it, he said, “It’s the man of God who rebelled against the words from the Lord’s mouth! The Lord gave him to the lion. It tore him to pieces and killed him as the Lord’s word had told him.”

²⁷ Then the old prophet told his sons to saddle his donkey for him. So they did.

²⁸ He found the body of the man thrown on the road. He also found the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body, nor had it torn the donkey to pieces. ²⁹ The old prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to his own city to mourn for him and to bury him. ³⁰ He laid the body of the man of God in his own tomb and mourned over the man, saying, “Oh no, my brother, my brother!” ³¹ After he had buried the man of God, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the man of God was buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. ³² The things that he announced by a command of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and all the illegal worship sites in the cities of Samaria will happen.”