The Old Prophet and the Man of God

¹¹ Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel.^(A) His son^[a] came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. His sons also told their father the words that he had spoken to the king.^{(B) 12} Then their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” His sons had seen^[b] the way taken by the man of God who had come from Judah. ¹³ Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he got on it. ¹⁴ He followed the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”

“I am,” he said.

¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.”

¹⁶ But he answered, “I cannot go back with you or accompany you; I will not eat food or drink water with you in this place. ¹⁷ For a message came to me by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat food or drink water there^(C) or go back by the way you came.’”

¹⁸ He said to him, “I am also a prophet^(D) like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat food and drink water.’” The old prophet deceived him,^{(E) 19} and the man of God went back with him, ate food in his house, and drank water.

²⁰ While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back, ²¹ and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you rebelled against the Lord’s command and did not keep the command that the Lord your God commanded you— ²² but you went back and ate food and drank water in the place that he said to you, “Do not eat food and do not drink water”^(F)—your corpse will never reach the grave of your ancestors.’”^(G)

²³ So after he had eaten food and after he had drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back. ²⁴ When he left,^[c] a lion attacked^[d] him along the way and killed him.^(H) His corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it; the lion was standing beside the corpse too.

²⁵ There were men passing by who saw the corpse thrown on the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and spoke about it in the city where the old prophet lived. ²⁶ When the prophet who had brought him back from his way heard about it, he said, “He is the man of God who disobeyed the Lord’s command. The Lord has given him to the lion, and it has mauled and killed him, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke to him.”

²⁷ Then the old prophet instructed his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” They saddled it,^{(I) 28} and he went and found the corpse thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse or mauled the donkey. ²⁹ So the prophet lifted the corpse of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back. The old prophet came into the city to mourn and to bury him. ³⁰ Then he laid the corpse in his own grave,^(J) and they mourned over him, “Oh, my brother!” ^(K)

³¹ After he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones, ³² for the message that he cried out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel^(L) and against all the shrines of the high places^(M) in the cities of Samaria^(N) is certain to happen.”^(O)