1 Kings 13:1-17

13:1 Just then¹ a prophet² from Judah, sent by the Lord, arrived in Bethel,³ as Jeroboam was standing near the altar ready to offer a sacrifice. 13:2 With the authority of the Lord⁴ he cried out against the altar, “O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says, ‘Look, a son named Josiah will be born to the Davidic dynasty. He will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer sacrifices on you. Human bones will be burned on you.’”⁵ 13:3 That day he also announced⁶ a sign, “This is the sign the Lord has predetermined:⁷ The altar will be split open and the ashes⁸ on it will fall to the ground.”⁹ 13:4 When the king heard what the prophet¹⁰ cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam, standing at the altar, extended his hand¹¹ and ordered,¹² “Seize him!” The hand he had extended shriveled up¹³ and he could not pull it back. 13:5 The altar split open and the ashes¹⁴ fell from the altar to the ground,¹⁵ in fulfillment of the sign the prophet had announced with the Lord’s authority.¹⁶ 13:6 The king pled with¹⁷ the prophet,¹⁸ “Seek the favor of¹⁹ the Lord your God and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored.” So the prophet sought the Lord’s favor²⁰ and the king’s hand was restored to its former condition.²¹ 13:7 The king then said to the prophet, “Come home with me and have something to eat. I’d like to give a present.” 13:8 But the prophet said to the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions,²² I could not go with you and eat and drink²³ in this place. 13:9 For the Lord gave me strict orders,²⁴ ‘Do not eat or drink²⁵ there and do not go home the way you came.’” 13:10 So he started back on another road; he did not travel back on the same road he had taken to Bethel.

13:11 Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel.²⁶ When his sons came home, they told their father²⁷ everything the prophet²⁸ had done in Bethel that day and all the words he had spoken to the king.²⁹ 13:12 Their father asked them, “Which road did he take?” His sons showed him³⁰ the road the prophet³¹ from Judah had taken. 13:13 He then told his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” When they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it 13:14 and took off after the prophet,³² whom he found sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the prophet³³ from Judah?” He answered, “Yes, I am.” 13:15 He then said to him, “Come home with me and eat something.” 13:16 But he replied, “I can’t go back with you³⁴ or eat and drink³⁵ with you in this place. 13:17 For the Lord gave me strict orders,³⁶ ‘Do not eat or drink³⁷ there; do not go back the way you came.’”

¹tn Heb “Look.” The Hebrew particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) is a rhetorical device by which the author invites the reader to visualize the scene for dramatic effect.

²tn Heb “the man of God.”

³tn Heb “came by the word of the Lord to Bethel.”

⁴tn Heb “by the word of the Lord.”

⁵sn ‘Look…you.’ For the fulfillment of this prophecy see 2 Kgs 23:15-20.

⁶tn Heb “gave.”

⁷tn Heb “spoken.”

⁸tn Heb “the fat.” Reference is made to burnt wood mixed with fat. See HALOT 234 s.v. דשׁן.

⁹tn Heb “will be poured out.”

¹⁰tn Heb “the man of God.”

¹¹tn Heb “Jeroboam extended his hand from the altar.”

¹²tn Heb “saying.”

¹³tn Heb “dried up” or “withered.” TEV and NLT interpret this as “became paralyzed.”

¹⁴tn Heb “the fat.” Reference is made to burnt wood mixed with fat. See HALOT 234 s.v. דשׁן.

¹⁵tn Heb “were poured out from the altar.”

¹⁶tn Heb “according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.”

¹⁷tn Heb “The king answered and said to.”

¹⁸tn Heb “the man of God” (a second time later in this verse, and once in v. 7 and v. 8).

¹⁹tn Heb “appease the face of.”

²⁰tn Heb “appeased the face of the Lord.”

²¹tn Heb “and it was as in the beginning.”

²²tn Heb “house.”

²³tn Heb “eat food and drink water.”

²⁴tn Heb “for this he commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying.”

²⁵tn Heb “eat food and drink water.”

²⁶map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

²⁷tn Heb “and his son came and told him.” The MT has the singular here, but several other textual witnesses have the plural, which is more consistent with the second half of the verse and with vv. 12-13.

²⁸tn Heb “the man of God.”

²⁹tn Heb “all the actions which the man of God performed that day in Bethel, the words which he spoke to the king, and they told them to their father.”

³⁰tn The Hebrew text has “and his sons saw” (וַיִּרְאוּ [vayyir’u], Qal from רָאָה [ra’ah]). In this case the verbal construction (vav consecutive + prefixed verbal form) would have to be understood as pluperfect, “his sons had seen.” Such uses of this construction are rare at best. Consequently many, following the lead of the ancient versions, prefer to emend the verbal form to a Hiphil with pronominal suffix (וַיַּרְאֻהוּ [vayyar’uhu], “and they showed him”).

³¹tn Heb “the man of God.”

³²tn Heb “the man of God.”

³³tn Heb “the man of God.”

³⁴tn Heb “I am unable to return with you or to go with you.”

³⁵tn Heb “eat food and drink water.”

³⁶tn Heb “for a word to me by the word of the Lord.”

³⁷tn Heb “eat food and drink water.”