Scriptures

1 Kings chapter .xiij.

¶ And behold, there came a man of God out of Iuda with the word of GOD, to Bethel, as Ieroboam stood by the altar to offer, and cried against the altar at the commandment of the LORD and said: altar, altar, thus sayeth the LORD. Behold a child shall be born of the house of David, Iosiah by name, which upon thee shall offer the priests of the hillaltars that sacrifice upon thee, and shall burn men's bones upon thee. And he gave them the same time a sign saying: this is the sign of that the LORD hath promised. Behold the altar shall rent and the ashes that are in it shall fall out. And when the king heard the saying of the man of God which he cried against the altar in Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar saying: hold him. And his hand which he put forth toward him dried up, that he could not pull it in again to him and the altar clave and the ashes ran out of the altar according to the token which the man of God had given at the commandment of the LORD. And the king answered and said unto the man of God: Oh pray unto the LORD thy God and make intercession for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and his hand came to him again as well as before. Then said the king unto the man of God: come home with me and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward. But the man of God answered the king, if thou wouldest give me half thine house, I would not go with thee neither would I eat meat or drink water in this place. For so was it charged me, thorow the word of GOD and said to me: eat no bread nor drink water nor turn again by the same way thou wentest. And so he went another way and returned not by the way he came to Bethel.
¶ And there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel, and the words which he spake unto the king they told their father also. And their father said unto them: what way went he? for his sons had seen what way the man of God went which came from Iuda. Then said he to his sons: saddle mine Ass. And they saddled him an Ass. And he gat him up thereon and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an Oak and said unto him: art thou the man of God that camest from Iuda? And he said, yea. Then he said to him: come home with me and eat bread. And the other said again I may not return with thee, to go with thee, neither may I eat bread or drink water with thee in this place. For it was said to me by the commandment of the LORD, eat no bread nor drink water in this place, nor turn again by the way thou wentest. And the old prophet said unto him: I am a prophet as well as thou, and an Angel spake unto me with the word of the LORD saying: bring him again with thee to thine house, and let him eat bread and drink water, and yet lied unto him. And so the other went again with him and ate bread in his house and drank water. And as they sat at the table, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him again. And he cried unto the man of God that came from Iuda, saying: thus sayeth the LORD: because thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, but camest back again and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place in which he bade that thou shouldest eat no bread nor drink water: therefore thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
¶ And when he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled an Ass for the prophet which he had brought again. And as he journeyed a Lion met him by the way and slew him, and his carcass lay along in the way and the Ass stood thereby, and the Lion stood by the corpse also. And men that passed by, saw the carcass cast along in the way and the lion stonding thereby, and went and told it in the town where the old prophet dwelt. And when the prophet that brought him back again from the way, heard thereof, he said: it is the man of God which disobeyed the mouth of the LORD. And therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the Lion which hath rent him and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he said to him. And he said to his sons saddle me an Ass: so they did. And he went and found the body cast along in the way and the Ass and the lion stonding thereby. And the Lion had not eaten the carcass nor hurt the Ass. And he took up the body of the man of God and put it upon the Ass and brought it again, and came to the city of the old prophet to lament him, and to bury him. And he laid his body in his own grave and lamented over him, Oh my brother. And when he had buried him, he spake to his sons saying: when I am dead, see that ye bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried, and lay my bones by his. For the saying which he cried at the bidding of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of hillaltars which are in the cities of Samaria, shall come to pass. How be it for all that, Ieroboam turned not from his wicked way: but turned away and made of the lowest of the people priests of the hillaltars. Whosoever would, he filled their hands, and they became priests of the hillaltars. And this doing was sin unto the house of Ieroboam, even to destroy it and to put it away from off the face of the earth.

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