³³ On the fifteenth day of the eighth month—the time he alone had decided—Jeroboam went up^[a] to the altar he had built in Bethel. He made a celebration for the Israelites and offered sacrifices on the altar by burning them up.^[b]

Jeroboam I and the man of God

13 A man of God came from Judah by God’s command to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing at the altar burning incense. ² By the Lord’s word, the man of God cried out to the altar: “Altar! Altar! The Lord says this: Look! A son will be born to the house of David. His name will be Josiah. He will sacrifice on you, Altar, the very priests of the shrines who offer incense on you. They will burn human bones on you.” ³ At that time the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign that the Lord mentioned: ‘Look! The altar will be broken apart, and its ashes will spill out.’”

⁴ When the king heard the word of the man of God and how he cried out to the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand that Jeroboam stretched out against the man of God grew stiff. Jeroboam wasn’t able to bend it back to himself. ⁵ The altar broke apart, and the ashes spilled out from the altar, just like the sign that the man of God gave by the Lord’s word. ⁶ The king said to the man of God, “Plead before the Lord your God and pray for me so that I can bend my hand back again.” So the man of God pleaded before the Lord, and the king’s hand returned to normal and was like it used to be. ⁷ The king spoke to the man of God: “Come with me to the palace and refresh yourself. Let me give you a gift.”

⁸ The man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half your palace, I wouldn’t go with you, nor would I eat food or drink water in this place. ⁹ This is what God commanded me by the Lord’s word: Don’t eat food! Don’t drink water! Don’t return by the way you came!”

¹⁰ So the man of God went by a different way. He didn’t return by the way he came to Bethel.