World English Bible
- Behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the LORD’s word to Bethel; and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.
- He cried against the altar by the LORD’s word, and said, “Altar! Altar! The LORD says: ‘Behold, a son will be born to David’s house, Josiah by name. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men’s bones on you.’”
- He gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the LORD has spoken: Behold, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.”
- When the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam put out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” His hand, which he put out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to himself.
- The altar was also split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the LORD’s word.
- The king answered the man of God, “Now intercede for the favor of the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” The man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as it was before.
- The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”
- The man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half of your house, I would not go in with you, neither would I eat bread nor drink water in this place;
- for so was it commanded me by the LORD’s word, saying, ‘You shall eat no bread, drink no water, and don’t return by the way that you came.’”
- So he went another way, and didn’t return by the way that he came to Bethel.
- 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.
- 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.
- He said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it.
- 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.”
- Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”
- 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.
- For it was said to me by the LORD’s word, ‘You shall eat no bread or drink water there, and don’t turn again to go by the way that you came.’”
- He said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are; and an angel spoke to me by the LORD’s word, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” He lied to him.
- So he went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.
- As they sat at the table, the LORD’s word came to the prophet who brought him back;
- and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “The LORD says, ’Because you have been disobedient to the LORD’s word, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you,
- 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.’”
- After he had eaten bread and after he drank, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 the LORD’s word. Therefore the LORD has delivered him to the lion, which has mauled him and slain him, according to the LORD’s word which he spoke to him.”
- He said to his sons, saying, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they saddled it.
- 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.
- 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.
- He laid his body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”
- 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.
- For the saying which he cried by the LORD’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.”
- After this thing, Jeroboam didn’t turn from his evil way, but again made priests of the high places from among all the people. Whoever wanted to, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places.
- This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.
“For the word of the LORD is right and true;
He is faithful in all He does.”
— Psalm 33 :4, New International Version
Jeroboam is offering incense at his new shrine in Bethel. The site is loaded with memory: Abraham once built an altar here (Genesis 12 :8) and Jacob dreamed of heaven’s gate (Genesis 28 :19). Now a counterfeit altar squats on holy ground, testifying that good locations cannot sanctify bad worship.
Into this scene strides “a man of God”—in Hebrew ʾîš hāʾĕlōhîm. The title is rare and weighty, normally reserved for Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha. His anonymity underlines the point: authority lies in the word he bears, not the name he carries.
He delivers a startling prediction: “O altar, altar … a son named Josiah will be born to the house of David” (v. 2). Archaeologists date Josiah’s reign almost three centuries later (640–609 BC). Such specificity underscores God’s long-range sovereignty. The prophecy is later fulfilled to the letter (see 2 Kings 23 :15-20).
Jeroboam’s raised fist withers (wayyibbāsh, “dries up”), an enacted parable: the king’s power is as fragile as a dead branch when he fights God’s purpose. Yet notice the mercy—when the king asks for prayer, the prophet intercedes and the hand is restored. Judgment and grace stand side by side.
Cross-References
• Deuteronomy 13 :1-5 – testing prophets.
• Psalm 106 :19-23 – the golden calf and Moses’ intercession.
• Matthew 12 :6 – “One greater than the temple is here.”
Spiritual Lens
True worship centers on God’s self-revelation, not on political
convenience. The modern temptation to shape devotion around comfort or
ideology finds an ancient mirror in Jeroboam’s altar.
God’s instructions to the man of God are clear:
• Do not eat or drink in Bethel.
• Do not return by the same road.
The command seems odd at first, but prohibitions often serve as boundary markers—reminding the prophet (and us) that God’s word, not local hospitality, sustains the mission (cf. 1 Kings 17 :4).
Enter an old prophet from Bethel. He, too, knows the vocabulary of revelation, yet he lives amid counterfeit worship. He finds the visitor resting under a terebinth and spins a lie: “An angel said, ‘Bring him back …’” (v. 18). Here the narrative whispers the echo of Eden—another voice, another meal, another death (Genesis 3).
For Western readers, ancient hospitality codes are easily missed. To refuse a meal in that culture bordered on insult. The offer would have sounded righteous, even godly, and the deceiver adds prophetic authority: “Thus spoke an angel.” The test, then, is not between good and evil appearances but between the first word of the LORD and a second, contradictory word.
Theological Thread
The Reformers stressed Sola Scriptura—God’s revealed word
judges all other claims. 1 Kings 13 dramatizes that principle centuries
before the Reformation.
While they sit at table, the true word of God now falls on the old prophet: because the man of God disobeyed, he will die. Irony piles up. The deceiver becomes the mouthpiece of authentic prophecy; the obedient messenger becomes the transgressor.
On the return journey a lion kills the man of God but does not eat him. Unusual animal behavior in Scripture often signals divine intervention (Numbers 22 :22-35; Daniel 6). The untouched donkey stands beside the lion—an emblem of judgment tempered by restraint. Nature itself bears witness that God’s sentence, not random violence, has fallen.
The old prophet retrieves the body, places it in his own tomb, and instructs his sons to bury him beside the visitor when his time comes: even compromised voices sometimes recognize truth when they see it.
Literary Note
The repeated phrase “by the word of the LORD” (vv. 1, 2, 5, 9, 17, 18,
20, 26) stitches the episode together like refrain in a ballad. Every
twist hinges on that word, inviting the reader to weigh every other
motivation against it.
Historical Side-Light
Lions roamed the Judean highlands until at least the 13th century AD.
Assyrian reliefs from Nineveh (7th century BC) show royal lion hunts—an
image the original audience would have pictured vividly.
Jeroboam learns nothing. The split altar, the withered hand, the death on the road—none of these signs move him to repentance. The chapter closes with the somber refrain: “This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall.”
Augustine comments, “Miracles instruct the teachable; they harden those set on their own ways.” Calvin adds that partial obedience is “the mother of all superstition.” The early Methodist preacher John Wesley used this passage to warn that past usefulness in God’s service is no shelter from present unfaithfulness.
Yet hope still gleams. Josiah will come. God already speaks the name of a reformer not yet born, proving that apostasy never gets the last word.
Broader Biblical Arc
1. Adam hears, eats, and dies (Genesis 3).
2. Israel hears, disobeys, and wanders (Numbers 14).
3. Jesus hears, obeys, and lives (John 5 :30; Philippians 2 :8).
Christ stands as the true Man of God who never deviates from the
Father’s command—even when offered bread in the wilderness by another
voice (Matthew 4 :3-4). Our security rests not in our flawless
performance but in His perfect obedience credited to us.
Reflection Questions
1. Where do I feel pressure to adjust God’s word for cultural comfort or
relational peace?
2. How do I discern between the first voice of Scripture and the second
voices that sound godly?
3. Am I lingering under an “oak tree” of fatigue, vulnerability, or
silent resentment where deception may find me?
Practical Step
Choose one instruction of Scripture you already know—perhaps about
forgiveness, generosity, Sabbath rest, or sexual integrity—and ask the
Spirit for strength to “listen all the way home,” without detour or
shortcut.
Suggested Hymn
“Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord” (B. Mansell Ramsey, 1919). Its repeated plea,
“Help me to walk aright, more by faith, less by sight,” captures the
heartbeat of 1 Kings 13.
Faithful God,
Your word is lamp and life.
Guard us from half-obedience,
from second voices that cloud our ears,
and from weariness that makes us easy prey.
Keep our feet on the path Your Son has walked before us,
till we, too, finish the journey in Your peace.
Through Jesus Christ, the true Man of God—Amen.