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1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.

2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.

3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.

4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.

5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.

6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.

7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.

8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:

9 For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.

10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.

11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.

12 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 Judah.

13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,

14 And 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 camest from Judah? And he said, I am.

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

16 And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:

17 For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.

18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.

19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.

20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back:

21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee,

22 But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.

23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.

25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord: therefore the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake unto him.

27 And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him.

28 And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass.

29 And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.

30 And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!

31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:

32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.

33 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.

34 And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.

<html><b> Then behold a man of God.</b> This was Yeddo.¹<i class=“footnote”>See II Divrei Hayomim 9:29.</i></html>

<html><b>Altar, altar.</b> [The one] in Beis Eil and [the one] in Dan.²<i class=“footnote”>Alternatively, it is common to use repetition when summoning, i.e., “Avrohom, Avrohom [Bereishis 22:1],” etc.—Radak</i> <b>And the bones of human beings.</b> This refers to Yerovom’s [bones], but he [the prophet] treated him with respect.³<i class=“footnote”>Indeed he was prophesying that Yerovom’s bones will be burnt on the same altar where he was standing now and offering sacrifices. However the Torah demands that a king be treated with respect. See Shemos 11:8 and Rashi there.</i></html>

<html><b>And he gave on that day.</b> The prophet [gave] a sign on the day that he prophesied, [saying,] “This is your sign, the altar will split by itself today, and the ashes will be spilled onto the ground.”</html>

<html><b>But his hand dried up [stiffened].</b> The Holy One Blessed Is He, avenged the honor of a righteous person more than His own honor. [When] he was standing and offering sacrifices to idols, his hand did not stiffen, yet, because of slandering the righteous person, his hand stiffened.⁴<i class=“footnote”>I.e., his hand became paralyzed. Yerovom had stretched out his hand to signal his servants to seize the man of God.—Metzudas Dovid</i></html>

<html><b>Your God.</b> But not my God, because he was still in a state of rebellion. <b>As it was originally.</b> Standing and burning sacrifices to idols.⁵<i class=“footnote”>Yerovom did not deserve to be healed, but God healed his hand as an incentive for him to repent.—Ralbag</i></html>

<html><b>And have a meal.</b> [And] eat.</html>

<html><b>An old prophet.</b> A false prophet.⁶<i class=“footnote”>According to some opinions the prophet was Michah. Others opine it was either Amatzyah, or Yiddo, or Yonoson the son of Gershom.—Radak</i> <b>Who lived in Beis Eil.</b> But he was not from there, but he came from Shomron, and so it is stated in the section dealing with Yoshiyahu, “his bones with the bones of the prophet who had come from Shomron.”⁷<i class=“footnote”>II Melochim 23:18.</i></html>

<html><b>To the prophet.</b> The false prophet. <b>That caused him to return.</b> To the man of God. From here they [the Rabbis] deduced that [offering] refreshment is a great thing, for it causes the Divine Presence to rest on the prophets of the Baal.⁸<i class=“footnote”>The simple act of hospitality can have great and far reaching consequences. See Maseches Sanhedrin 103b-104a.</i></html>

<html><b>And he called.</b> The old prophet called the man of God.⁹<i class=“footnote”>Alternatively, and “he prophesied about the prophet of God.”—Targum Yonoson</i></html>

<html><b>For the prophet that he brought back.</b> Whom this one [had brought] there, for the man of God to ride upon.</html>

<html><b>In his own grave.</b> In the graveyard belonging to the false prophet in the city.¹⁰<i class=“footnote”>Alternatively, “in the grave that he had dug for himself.”—Metzudas Dovid</i></html>

<html><b>For [the message] will certainly come to pass, etc.</b> Perhaps his bones will rescue my bones.¹¹<i class=“footnote”>This is indeed what happened. See below, II Melochim 23:18.</i></html>

<html><b>[Even] after all that transpired.</b> That he saw this wonder and heard the words of the prophet, and he, nevertheless, did not repent. And our Rabbis expounded, “After the Holy One Blessed Is He, grasped him by his garment and said to him, ‘Repent, and I and you and the son of Yishay will stroll in the Garden of Eden.’”¹²<i class=“footnote”>See Maseches Sanhedrin 102a. The conversation continued, “Yerovom said, ‘Who will walk in front?’ [and the reply was,] ‘The son of Yishy.’ [Yerovom responded,] ‘If so, I want no part of it.’” </i></html>