1 Kings 13:11-32
World English Bible
11 Now an old prophet lived in Bethel, and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.
12 Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” Now his sons had seen which way the man of God went, who came from Judah. 13 He said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it. 14 He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
He said, “I am.” 15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me, and eat bread.”
16 He said, “I may not return with you, nor go in with you. I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 For it was said to me by Yahweh’s word, ‘You shall eat no bread or drink water there, and don’t turn again to go by the way that you came.’”
18 He said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by Yahweh’s word, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” He lied to him.
19 So he went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water. 20 As they sat at the table, Yahweh’s word came to the prophet who brought him back; 21 and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Yahweh says, ‘Because you have been disobedient to Yahweh’s mouth, and have not kept the commandment which Yahweh your God commanded you, 22 but came back, and have eaten bread and drank water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread, and drink no water;” your body will not come to the tomb of your fathers.’”
23 After he had eaten bread, and after he drank, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 When he had gone, a lion met him by the way and killed him. His body was thrown on the path, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body. 25 Behold, men passed by, and saw the body thrown on the path, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived. 26 When the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who was disobedient to Yahweh’s mouth. Therefore Yahweh has delivered him to the lion, which has mauled him and slain him, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke to him.” 27 He said to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddled it. 28 He went and found his body thrown on the path, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body, nor mauled the donkey. 29 The prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. 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, “Alas, my brother!”
31 After he had buried him, he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, bury me in the tomb in which the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the saying which he cried by Yahweh’s word against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely happen.”
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1 Kings 13:11-32
International Standard Version
An Old Prophet Rebukes the Man of God
11 Now there was an old prophet who lived in Bethel, and his sons went to him and told him everything that the man of God had accomplished that day in Bethel, including the message that he had delivered to the king. 12 “Which way did he go?” their father asked him, since his sons had observed the way that the man of God had taken to return to Judah from Bethel. 13 “Saddle my donkey for me!” he ordered.[a] So they saddled the donkey for him 14 and he rode off after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree.[b] “You’re the man of God who came from Judah, aren’t you?” the old prophet[c] asked him.
“I am,” he replied.
15 “Come home with me and have a meal,” he told him.
16 But he replied, “I can’t go back with you to your home, be in your company, or even eat food or drink water with you in this place, 17 because I’ve been given a command in the form of this message from the Lord: ‘You are to eat no food, drink no water, and do not return to Judah[d] by traveling the way by which you go there.’”
18 “I’m a prophet like you,” the old man replied, “and an angel spoke to me and delivered this message from the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house and give him food and water.’” But he was lying, 19 and the man of God[e] accompanied the old prophet[f] back to his house, ate some food, and drank some water.
20 Later, while they were sitting down at the table, a message from the Lord was delivered to the prophet who had brought him back, 21 so he cried out to the man of God from Judah: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you disobeyed a command from the Lord and haven’t done what the Lord your God commanded you to do, 22 but instead you returned to eat and drink in the very place that he told you “Eat no food and drink no water,” your body will not be buried in the same grave as your ancestors.’”
A Lion Kills the Man of God
23 After the meal was over, and the man had eaten food and had drunk water, the old prophet saddled the donkey for him—that is, for the man of God whom he had brought back. 24 Not long after the man of God[g] had left, a lion met him along the road and killed him. His body was left lying in the middle of the road with the donkey standing beside it and with the lion also standing next to the body. 25 When some men passed by and noticed the body lying in the middle of the road and the lion standing beside the body, they went straight to the city and told what had happened in the city where the old prophet lived.
26 The prophet who had brought the man of God[h] back from the road learned about it. “It’s the man of God who disobeyed the message from the Lord,” he said. “That’s why the Lord gave him to that lion, which mauled him and killed him, just as the message from the Lord told me to rebuke him.” 27 Then he ordered his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they did. 28 The old prophet[i] went out and located the body on the road where the donkey and the lion were standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. 29 The prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to the city where the old man lived so he could mourn and bury him.
30 He buried the corpse in his own grave and his family mourned for him, crying out, “Oh, no! My brother!”
31 After he had buried the man of God,[j] he gave these instructions to his children: “When I die, bury me in the same grave in which the man of God is buried. Place my bones beside his, 32 because what he predicted by a message from the Lord against the altar in Bethel and the temples built in the high places of the cities of Samaria will certainly come about.”
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- 1 Kings 13:13 The Heb. lacks he ordered
- 1 Kings 13:14 or under a terebinth tree; i.e. an oak tree used in idol worship
- 1 Kings 13:14 Lit. He
- 1 Kings 13:17 The Heb. lacks to Judah
- 1 Kings 13:19 Lit. So he
- 1 Kings 13:19 Lit. accompanied him
- 1 Kings 13:24 Lit. after he
- 1 Kings 13:26 Lit. brought him
- 1 Kings 13:28 Lit. He
- 1 Kings 13:31 Lit. buried him
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