hand was brought again unto him, and was as it was before.

And the king spake unto the man of God, saying, Come home with me, and be merry; and I will give thee a present.

And the man of God said unto the king: Though thou gavest me half thy house, yet will I not come with thee: for I will not eat bread nor drink water in this place.

For thus is it commanded me in the word of the LORD, saying, Thou shalt eat no bread, neither shalt thou drink any water, neither shalt thou return by the way which thou wentest.

And he departed by another way, and came not again by the way which he came to Bethel.

And there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his son came unto him, and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel, and the words that he spake unto the king.

And their father said unto them: Where is the way which he went? And his sons showed him the way which the man of God went, which was come from Judah.

And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. And when they had saddled him with the ass, he rode upon it.

And he went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that came from Judah? And he said, Yea.

And he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.

And he said: I cannot return with thee, and come with thee: neither will I eat bread with thee, nor drink water with thee in this place.

For it was spoken unto me in the word of the LORD, saying, Thou shalt neither eat bread there, nor drink water; thou shalt not go again by the way which thou wentest.

And he said unto him, I also am a prophet like unto thee, and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him again home with thee, that he may eat bread, and drink water. But he lied to him.

And brought him again, and he did eat bread, and drank water in his house.

And as they sat at meat, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet, who had turned him again,

And he cried unto the man of God that was come from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Because thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,

And returned, and did eat bread, and drank water in the place whereof he said unto thee, Thou shalt neither eat bread, nor drink water, neither shall thy dead body come into the sepulchre of thy fathers.

And after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, they saddled the ass to the prophet, whom he had restored.

And as he departed, a lion found him in the way, and slew him: and his carcase lay cast in the way, and the ass stood by him, and the lion stood by the carcase.

And as men passed by, they saw the body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city, where the old prophet dwelt within.

And when the prophet heard it, he that had brought him again, said, This is the man of God, which hath disobeyed the mouth of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath given him to the lion, and he hath broken him, and slain him, according to the word which the LORD spake unto him.

And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. And when they had saddled him, 28. And he went, and found his body cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the body: the lion had eaten nothing of the body, neither had he broken the ass.

And the prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and led it again, and came into the city of the old prophet, and they mourned and buried him.

And he laid the body in his sepulchre; and they lamented him, saying, Alas, brother!

And when they had buried him, he said unto his sons: When I die, bury me in the sepulchre where the man of God is buried within, and lay my legs beside his legs.

For that which he hath cried against the altar of Bethel by the word of the LORD, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall come to pass.

But after this Jeroboam turned not from his evil way, but turned back, and made priests of the high places of the least of the people: whosoever he pleased he filled his hand, and he became priest of the high places.

And this became a sin unto the house of Jeroboam, that he was destroyed, and cut off from the earth.
(1 Kings)
Chapter 14
Prophecy against Jeroboam. Rehoboam’s government, sin and its punishment.

At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam was sick.

And Jeroboam said unto his wife, Arise, and disguise thyself, that no man know that thou art Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh. Behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which spake unto me that I should reign over this people.

And take with thee ten loaves, and cakes, and a jar of honey; and come unto him, that he may tell thee how the lad shall fare.

And the wife of Jeroboam did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came into the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were stiff with age.

And the LORD said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask of thee a thing
concerning her son: for he is sick. Speak therefore unto her thus and thus. And when she was come in, she presented herself a stranger.

And when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet going in at the door, he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam, why art thou a stranger? I am sent unto thee a stern messenger.

Go and tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I have exalted thee from among the people, and have made thee ruler over my people Israel;

And I have rent the kingdom from David’s house, and have given it thee. But thou hast not been as my servant David, which kept my commandments, and walked after me with all his heart, to do that which was right in mine eyes;

And thou hast done evil against all that were before thee, and hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back.

Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up, and him that is forsaken in Israel; and I will sweep out the posterity of the house of Jeroboam, as one sweepeth out dung, until he be utterly destroyed.

Whosoever of Jeroboam dieth in the city, the dogs shall eat him: but whosoever dieth in the field, the fowls of the air shall eat him: for the LORD hath spoken it.

Arise thou therefore, and go home. And when thy foot entereth into the city, the child shall die.

And all Israel shall mourn for him, and shall bury him. For this man only of Jeroboam shall go into the grave, because some good thing was found in him before the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

And the LORD shall raise up a king over Israel for him, and he shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day. And what is done now?

And the LORD shall smite Israel, as the reed is moved in the waters, and shall pluck Israel up out of this good land, which he gave unto their fathers, and shall scatter them upon the face of the waters, because they have made their groves to provoke the LORD to anger.

And he shall deliver up Israel for the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned, and made Israel to sin.

And the wife of Jeroboam arose, and went, and came to Tirzah. And when she was come to the threshold of the house, the lad died.

And they buried him, and all Israel mourned for him according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the prophet.

And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he fought and ruled, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

And the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty and two years. And he slept with his fathers: and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

So Rehoboam the son of Solomon was king in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naema, an Ammonite woman.

And Judah did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and provoked him to zeal, more than all that their fathers had done in their sins which they did.

For they built them also high places, and pillars, and groves, upon every high hill, and under every green tree.

There were also fornicators in the land, and they did all the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of