1 And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the Word of Jehovah, and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.

2 And he cried out against the altar by the Word of Jehovah, and said, O altar, altar! Thus says Jehovah: Behold, a son, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.

3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign that Jehovah has spoken this: Behold, the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.

4 So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the utterance of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched forth his hand from the altar, saying, Arrest him! And his hand, which he had stretched forth toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself.

5 The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the Word of Jehovah.

6 And the king answered and said to the man of God, Please entreat the face of Jehovah your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me. So the man of God entreated Jehovah, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before.

7 And 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 said to the king, If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place.

9 For so it was commanded me by the Word of Jehovah, saying, You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you have come.

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

11 Now an old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and recounted to 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.

12 And their father said to them, Which way did he go? For his sons had seen which way the man of God had gone, who had come from Judah.

13 And he said to his sons, Saddle the donkey for me. So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it,

14 and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, Are you the man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am.

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

16 And he said, I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place.

17 For I have been told by the Word of Jehovah, You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.

18 And he said to him, I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel has spoken to me by the Word of Jehovah, saying, Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied to him.

19 So he turned back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

20 And it happened, as they sat at the table, that the Word of Jehovah came to the prophet who had brought him back;

21 and he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Because you have disobeyed the Word of Jehovah, and have not kept the commandment with which Jehovah your God has charged you,

22 but you turned back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which He said to you, Eat no bread and drink no water, your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.

23 So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back.

24 And when he left, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey was standing by it. The lion also was standing by the corpse.

25 And behold, men were passing by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. And they came and spoke of it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

26 Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, It is the man of God who had been rebellious against the mouth of Jehovah. Therefore Jehovah has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the Word of Jehovah which He had spoken to him.

27 And he spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle the donkey for me. So they saddled it.

28 And he went and found his corpse thrown on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing by the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse nor torn the donkey.

29 And the prophet took up the corpse of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. So the old prophet came to the city to mourn, and to bury him.

30 And he laid the corpse in his own tomb; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!

31 So it was, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

32 For the word which he has cried out by the Word of Jehovah 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 these events Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but he went back to making priests from among all the people for the high places; whoever wished, he confirmed his hand, and he became one of the priests of the high places.

34 And this matter was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to annihilate and destroy it from the face of the earth.

1 Por ordem do Senhor um homem de Deus foi de Judá a Betel, quando Jeroboão estava de pé junto ao altar para queimar incenso.

2 Ele clamou contra o altar, segundo a ordem do Senhor: "Ó altar, ó altar! Assim diz o Senhor: ‘Um filho nascerá na família de Davi e se chamará Josias. Sobre você ele sacrificará os sacerdotes dos altares idólatras que agora queimam incenso aqui, e ossos humanos serão queimados sobre você’ ".

3 Naquele mesmo dia o homem de Deus deu um sinal: "Este é o sinal que o Senhor declarou: O altar se fenderá, e as cinzas que estão sobre ele se derramarão".

4 Quando o rei Jeroboão ouviu o que o homem de Deus proclamava contra o altar de Betel, apontou para ele e ordenou: "Prendam-no! " Mas o braço que ele tinha estendido ficou paralisado, e não voltava ao normal.

5 Além disso, o altar se fendeu, e as suas cinzas se derramaram, conforme o sinal dado pelo homem de Deus por ordem do Senhor.

6 Então o rei disse ao homem de Deus: "Interceda junto ao Senhor, o seu Deus, e ore por mim para que meu braço se recupere". O homem de Deus intercedeu junto ao Senhor, e o braço do rei recuperou-se e voltou ao normal.

7 O rei disse ao homem de Deus: "Venha à minha casa e coma algo, e eu o recompensarei".

8 Mas o homem de Deus respondeu ao rei: "Mesmo que me desse a metade dos seus bens, eu não iria com você, nem comeria nem beberia nada neste lugar.

9 Pois recebi estas ordens pela palavra do Senhor: ‘Não coma pão nem beba água nem volte pelo mesmo caminho por onde veio’ ".

10 Por isso, quando ele voltou, não foi pelo caminho pelo qual tinha vindo a Betel.

11 Ora, havia um certo profeta, já idoso, morando em Betel. Seus filhos lhe contaram tudo o que o homem de Deus havia feito naquele dia e também o que ele dissera ao rei.

12 O pai lhes perguntou: "Por qual caminho ele foi? " E os seus filhos lhe mostraram por onde tinha ido o homem de Deus que viera de Judá.

13 Então disse aos filhos: "Selem o jumento para mim". E, depois de selarem o jumento, ele montou

14 e cavalgou à procura do homem de Deus, até que o encontrou sentado embaixo da Grande Árvore. E lhe perguntou: "Você é o homem de Deus que veio de Judá? " "Sou", respondeu.

15 Então o profeta lhe disse: "Venha à minha casa, comer alguma coisa".

16 O homem de Deus disse: "Não posso ir com você, nem posso comer pão ou beber água neste lugar.

17 A palavra do Senhor deu-me esta ordem: ‘Não coma pão nem beba água lá, nem volte pelo mesmo caminho por onde você foi’ ".

18 O profeta idoso respondeu: "Eu também sou profeta como você. E um anjo me disse por ordem do Senhor: ‘Faça-o voltar com você para a sua casa para que coma pão e beba água’ ". Mas ele estava mentindo.

19 E o homem de Deus voltou com ele e foi comer e beber em sua casa.

20 Enquanto ainda estavam sentados à mesa, a palavra do Senhor veio ao profeta idoso que o havia feito voltar.

21 Ele bradou ao homem de Deus que tinha vindo de Judá: "Assim diz o Senhor: ‘Você desafiou a palavra do Senhor e não obedeceu à ordem que o Senhor, o seu Deus, lhe deu.

22 Você voltou e comeu pão e bebeu água no lugar onde ele lhe falou que não comesse nem bebesse. Por isso o seu corpo não será sepultado no túmulo dos seus antepassados’ ".

23 Quando o homem de Deus acabou de comer e beber, o outro profeta selou seu jumento para ele.

24 No caminho, um leão o atacou e o matou, e o seu corpo ficou estendido no chão, ao lado do leão e do jumento.

25 Algumas pessoas que passaram viram o cadáver estendido ali, com o leão ao lado, e foram dar a notícia na cidade onde o profeta idoso vivia.

26 Quando o outro profeta soube disso, exclamou: "É o homem de Deus que desafiou a palavra do Senhor! O Senhor o entregou ao leão, que o feriu e o matou, conforme a palavra do Senhor o tinha advertido".

27 O profeta disse aos seus filhos: "Selem o jumento para mim", e eles o fizeram.

28 Ele foi e encontrou o cadáver caído no caminho, com o jumento e o leão ao seu lado. O leão não tinha comido o corpo nem ferido o jumento.

29 O profeta apanhou o corpo do homem de Deus, colocou-o sobre o jumento, e o levou de volta para Betel, a fim de chorar por ele e sepultá-lo.

30 Ele o pôs no seu próprio túmulo, e lamentaram por ele, exclamando: "Ah, meu irmão! "

31 Depois de sepultá-lo, disse aos seus filhos: "Quando eu morrer, enterrem-me no túmulo onde está sepultado o homem de Deus; ponham os meus ossos ao lado dos ossos dele.

32 Pois a mensagem que declarou por ordem do Senhor contra o altar de Betel e contra todos os altares idólatras das cidades de Samaria certamente se cumprirá".

33 Mesmo depois disso Jeroboão não mudou o seu mau procedimento, mas continuou a nomear dentre o povo sacerdotes para os altares idólatras. Ele consagrava para esses altares todo aquele que quisesse tornar-se sacerdote.

34 Esse foi o pecado da família de Jeroboão, que levou à sua queda e à sua eliminação da face da terra.