The altar split open and the ashes ¹  fell from the altar to the ground, ²  in fulfillment of the sign the prophet had announced with the Lord’s authority. ³ 

Their father asked them, “Which road did he take?” His sons showed him ¹  the road the prophet ²  from Judah had taken.

She asked Elijah, “Why, prophet, have you come ¹  to me to confront me with ²  my sin and kill my son?”

The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a prophet and that the Lord really does speak through you.” ¹ 

Solomon said, “If he is a loyal subject, ¹  not a hair of his head will be harmed, but if he is found to be a traitor, ²  he will die.”

All the people of Judah and Israel had security; everyone from Dan to Beer Sheba enjoyed the produce of their vines and fig trees throughout Solomon’s lifetime. ¹ 

Each one struck down an enemy soldier; ¹  the Syrians fled and Israel chased them. King Ben Hadad of Syria escaped on horseback with some horsemen.

But the prophet said to the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, ¹  I could not go with you and eat and drink ²  in this place.

Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel. ¹  When his sons came home, they told their father ²  everything the prophet ³  had done in Bethel that day and all the words he had spoken to the king. ⁴ 

and he cried out to the prophet from Judah, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You ¹  have rebelled against the Lord ²  and have not obeyed the command the Lord your God gave you.

The old prophet ¹  picked up the corpse of the prophet, ²  put it on the donkey, and brought it back. The old prophet then entered the city to mourn him and to bury him.

After he buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the prophet ¹  is buried; put my bones right beside his bones,

When the king heard what the prophet ¹  cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam, standing at the altar, extended his hand ²  and ordered, ³  “Seize him!” The hand he had extended shriveled up ⁴  and he could not pull it back.

“When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, be willing to forgive the accused if the accusation is false. ¹ 

When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, ¹  as they acknowledge their pain ²  and spread out their hands toward this temple,

Year after year visitors brought their gifts, which included items of silver, items of gold, clothes, perfume, spices, horses, and mules. ¹ 

So the prophet went back with him and ate and drank in his house. ¹ 

When the prophet from Judah finished his meal, ¹  the old prophet saddled his visitor’s donkey for him. ² 

(Now his father had never corrected ¹  him ²  by saying, “Why do you do such things?” He was also very handsome and had been born right after Absalom. ³ )

Then I will allow your dynasty to rule over Israel permanently, ¹  just as I promised your father David, ‘You will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ ²