1 Kings 13:9

9 For this is what I was commanded by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’”

1 Kings 13:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 13:9

For so it was charged me by the word of the Lord
The command of the Lord, by which he came to Bethel, and cried against the altar there, ( 1 Kings 13:1 1 Kings 13:2 )

saying, eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way
that thou camest:
signifying that no communion was to be had with idolaters, nor any example to be set and followed; but the way to them, and to their idolatry, was to be shunned and avoided.

1 Kings 13:9 In-Context

7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”

8 But the man of God replied, “If you were to give me half your possessions, I still would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.

9 For this is what I was commanded by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’”

10 So the man of God went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.

11 Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words that the man had spoken to the king.