The Message Bible MSG
New Century Version NCV
1 And then this happened: Just as Jeroboam was at the Altar, about to make an offering, a holy man came from Judah by God's command
1
The Lord commanded a man of God from Judah to go to Bethel. When he arrived, Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer a sacrifice.
2 and preached (these were God's orders) to the Altar: "Altar, Altar! God's message! 'A son will be born into David's family named Josiah. The priests from the shrines who are making offerings on you, he will sacrifice - on you! Human bones burned on you!'"
2
The Lord had commanded the man of God to speak against the altar. The man said, "Altar, altar, the Lord says to you: 'David's family will have a son named Josiah. The priests for the places of worship now make their sacrifices on you, but Josiah will sacrifice those priests on you. Human bones will be burned on you.'"
3 At the same time he announced a sign: "This is the proof God gives - the Altar will split into pieces and the holy offerings spill into the dirt."
3
That same day the man of God gave proof that these things would happen. "This is the Lord's sign that this will happen," he said. "This altar will break apart, and the ashes on it will fall to the ground."
4 When the king heard the message the holy man preached against the Altar at Bethel, he reached out to grab him, yelling, "Arrest him!" But his arm was paralyzed and hung useless.
4
When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God said about the altar in Bethel, the king raised his hand from the altar and pointed at the man. "Take him!" he said. But when the king said this, his arm was paralyzed, and he could not move it.
5 At the same time the Altar broke apart and the holy offerings all spilled into the dirt - the very sign the holy man had announced by God's command.
5
The altar also broke into pieces, and its ashes fell to the ground. This was the sign the Lord had told the man of God to give.
6 The king pleaded with the holy man, "Help me! Pray to your God for the healing of my arm." The holy man prayed for him and the king's arm was healed - as good as new!
6
Then the king said to the man of God, "Please pray to the Lord your God for me, and ask him to heal my arm." So the man of God prayed to the Lord, and the king's arm was healed, becoming as it was before.
7 Then the king invited the holy man, "Join me for a meal; I have a gift for you."
7
Then the king said to the man of God, "Please come home and eat with me, and I will give you a gift."
8 The holy man told the king, "Not on your life! You couldn't pay me enough to get me to sit down with you at a meal in this place.
8
But the man of God answered the king, "Even if you gave me half of your kingdom, I would not go with you. I will not eat or drink anything in this place.
9 I'm here under God's orders, and he commanded, 'Don't eat a crumb, don't drink a drop, and don't go back the way you came.'"
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The Lord commanded me not to eat or drink anything nor to return on the same road by which I came."
10 Then he left by a different road than the one on which he had walked to Bethel.
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So he took a different road and did not return on the same road by which he had come to Bethel.
11 There was an old prophet who lived in Bethel. His sons came and told him the story of what the holy man had done that day in Bethel, told him everything that had happened and what the holy man had said to the king.
11
Now an old prophet was living in Bethel. His sons came and told him what the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to King Jeroboam.
12 Their father said, "Which way did he go?" His sons pointed out the road that the holy man from Judah had taken.
12
The father asked, "Which road did he use when he left?" So his sons showed him the road the man of God from Judah had taken.
13 He told his sons, "Saddle my donkey." When they had saddled it, he got on
13
Then the prophet told his sons to put a saddle on his donkey. So they saddled the donkey, and he left.
14 and rode after the holy man. He found him sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, "Are you the holy man who came from Judah?" "Yes, I am," he said.
14
He went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. The prophet asked, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" The man answered, "Yes, I am."
15 "Well, come home with me and have a meal."
15
The prophet said, "Please come home and eat with me."
16 "Sorry, I can't do that," the holy man said. "I can neither go back with you nor eat with you in this country.
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"I can't go home with you," the man of God answered. "I can't eat or drink with you in this place.
17 I'm under strict orders from God: 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop; and don't come back the way you came.'"
17
The Lord said to me, 'Don't eat or drink anything there or return on the same road by which you came.'"
18 But he said, "I am also a prophet, just like you. And an angel came to me with a message from God: 'Bring him home with you, and give him a good meal!'" But the man was lying.
18
Then the old prophet said, "But I also am a prophet like you." Then he told a lie. He said, "An angel from the Lord came to me and told me to bring you to my home. He said you should eat and drink with me."
19 So the holy man went home with him and they had a meal together.
19
So the man of God went to the old prophet's house, and he ate and drank with him there.
20 There they were, sitting at the table together, when the word of God came to the prophet who had brought him back.
20
While they were sitting at the table, the Lord spoke his word to the old prophet.
21 He confronted the holy man who had come from Judah: "God's word to you: You disobeyed God's command; you didn't keep the strict orders your God gave you;
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The old prophet cried out to the man of God from Judah, "The Lord said you did not obey him! He said you did not do what the Lord your God commanded you.
22 you came back and sat down to a good meal in the very place God told you, 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop.' For that you're going to die far from home and not be buried in your ancestral tomb."
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The Lord commanded you not to eat or drink anything in this place, but you came back and ate and drank. So your body will not be buried in your family grave."
23 When the meal was over, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him.
23
After the man of God finished eating and drinking, the prophet put a saddle on his donkey for him, and the man left.
24 Down the road a way, a lion met him and killed him. His corpse lay crumpled on the road, the lion on one side and the donkey on the other.
24
As he was traveling home, a lion attacked and killed him. His body lay on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing nearby.
25 Some passersby saw the corpse in a heap on the road, with the lion standing guard beside it. They went to the village where the old prophet lived and told what they had seen.
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Some men who were traveling on that road saw the body and the lion standing nearby. So they went to the city where the old prophet lived and told what they had seen.
26 When the prophet who had gotten him off track heard it, he said, "It's the holy man who disobeyed God's strict orders. God turned him over to the lion who knocked him around and killed him, just as God had told him."
26
The old prophet who had brought back the man of God heard what had happened. "It is the man of God who did not obey the Lord's command," he said. "So the Lord sent a lion to kill him, just as he said he would."
27 The prophet told his sons, "Saddle my donkey." They did it.
27
Then the prophet said to his sons, "Put a saddle on my donkey," which they did.
28 He rode out and found the corpse in a heap in the road, with the lion and the donkey standing there. The lion hadn't bothered either the corpse or the donkey.
28
The old prophet went out and found the body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion still standing nearby. The lion had not eaten the body or hurt the donkey.
29 The old prophet loaded the corpse of the holy man on his donkey and returned it to his own town to give it a decent burial.
29
The prophet put the body on his donkey and carried it back to the city to have a time of sadness for him and to bury him.
30 He placed the body in his own tomb. The people mourned, saying, "A sad day, brother!"
30
The prophet buried the body in his own family grave, and they were sad for the man of God and said, "Oh, my brother."
31 After the funeral, the prophet said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the same tomb where the holy man is buried, my bones alongside his bones.
31
After the prophet buried the body, he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in this same grave. Put my bones next to his.
32 The message that he preached by God's command against the Altar at Bethel and against all the sex-and-religion shrines in the towns of Samaria will come true."
32
Through him the Lord spoke against the altar at Bethel and against the places of worship in the towns of Samaria. What the Lord spoke through him will certainly come true."
33 After this happened, Jeroboam kept right on doing evil, recruiting priests for the forbidden shrines indiscriminately - anyone who wanted to could be a priest at one of the local shrines.
33
After this incident King Jeroboam did not stop doing evil. He continued to choose priests for the places of worship from among all the people. Anyone who wanted to be a priest for the places of worship was allowed to be one.
34 This was the root sin of Jeroboam's government. And it was this that ruined him.
34
In this way the family of Jeroboam sinned, and this sin caused its ruin and destruction from the earth.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.