The Prophet Rebels Against Yahweh

¹¹ Now ^(A)an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his ^[a]sons came and recounted to him all the work which the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they recounted to their father. ¹² And their father said to them, “^[b]Which way did he go?” And his sons ^[c]had seen the way which the man of God who came from Judah had gone. ¹³ Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it. ¹⁴ So he went after the man of God and found him sitting under ^[d]an oak; and he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” ¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” ¹⁶ And he said, “^(B)I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. ¹⁷ For a word came to me ^(C)by the word of Yahweh, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.’” ¹⁸ And he said to him, “^(D)I also am a prophet like you, and ^(E)an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But ^(F)he dealt falsely with him. ¹⁹ So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.

²⁰ Now it happened as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who had brought him back; ²¹ and he called out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you have rebelled against the ^[e]word of Yahweh, and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh your God commanded you, ²² but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water”; your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers.’” ²³ Now it happened after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴ Then he went and on the way ^(G)a lion met him and put him to death, and his body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body. ²⁵ And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown on the road, and the lion standing beside the body; so they came and spoke about it in the city where ^(H)the old prophet lived.

²⁶ Then the prophet, who brought him back from the way, heard it and said, “It is the man of God, who rebelled against the ^[f]command of Yahweh; therefore Yahweh has given him to the lion, which has mauled him and put him to death, according to the word of Yahweh which He spoke to him.” ²⁷ Then he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. ²⁸ And he went and found his body thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body; the lion had not eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. ²⁹ So the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back, and he came to the city of the old prophet to mourn and to bury him. ³⁰ He laid his body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, “^(I)Alas, my brother!” ³¹ Now it happened after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I die, you shall bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; ^(J)lay my bones beside his bones. ^32 (K)For the word shall surely happen which he cried by the word of Yahweh against the altar in Bethel and ^(L)against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of ^(M)Samaria.”