³³ He offered sacrifices on the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month which his heart had devised. He inaugurated a religious feast for the Israelites,^[a] and he went up to the altar to offer incense.

A Man of God Proclaims Judgment against the False Altar

13 Suddenly a man of God from Judah came to Bethel, by the word of Yahweh, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to offer incense. ² Then he proclaimed against the altar by the word of Yahweh and said, “O altar, altar, thus says Yahweh: ‘Look, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall burn on you.’”

³ He gave a sign on that day, saying, “This is the sign that Yahweh has predetermined: Look, this altar will be torn apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.”

⁴ It happened at the moment the king heard the word of the man of God that he cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” But his hand which he stretched out to him was paralyzed, and he was not able to draw it back to himself. ⁵ Then the altar was torn apart and the ashes from the altar poured out according to the sign which the man of God had announced by the word of Yahweh. ⁶ Then the king responded and said to the man of God, “Please entreat the favor of Yahweh your God, and pray for me that my hand may return to me.” So the man of God entreated the face of Yahweh, and the hand of the king returned to him, as it was in the beginning. ⁷ Then the king spoke to the man of God, “Come with me to the house and refresh yourself, that I may give you a gift.” ⁸ Then the man of God said to the king, “Even if you give to me half of your house I will not come with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water in this place, ⁹ for the word of Yahweh has commanded me, saying, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water, and you shall not return on the way that you came.’” ¹⁰ So he went another way, and he did not return by the way on which he had come to Bethel.