Atlas Biblica

    1 Kings · 34 verses

    1 Kings 13

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    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    The lion kills the man of God, then stands guard over the body beside the unharmed donkey—as though the roadside has briefly acquired a very solemn porter.

    The altar splits, and the hand withersvv. 1–10

    Jeroboam is standing beside the altar at Bethel when a man of God arrives from Judah with a word about Josiah, a future son of David who will burn human bones upon it. The promised sign follows at once: the altar splits and its ashes spill out, while Jeroboam’s outstretched hand withers. The king asks for prayer, receives his hand back, and then offers hospitality and reward; the man of God refuses both, obeying the command not to eat, drink, or return by the road he came.

    The old prophet’s invitationvv. 11–23

    An old prophet in Bethel hears what happened and follows the man of God, who is resting beneath an oak. The traveller refuses his invitation until the old prophet claims that an angel has given a contrary command. It is a lie, and the man of God goes back, eats, and drinks. While they are still at the table, the word of the LORD comes—not to the deceived traveller, but to the prophet who deceived him—and announces that his body will never reach the tomb of his fathers. The old prophet then saddles the donkey for him, an oddly courteous final service.

    The lion, the tomb, and the altar’s long shadowvv. 24–34

    On the road, a lion kills the man of God and remains beside him with the donkey. Passers-by report the scene; the old prophet finds it exactly as described, lifts the body onto the donkey, and buries him in his own tomb. He mourns him as a brother and asks that his own bones one day lie beside those bones, because he believes the message against the altar will come to pass. Jeroboam, meanwhile, resumes appointing priests from anyone who wishes to serve at the high places. The chapter ends with the altar’s solemn prediction and the king’s stubborn continuation occupying the same landscape.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. 1 Kgs 13:1Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD.

    2. 1 Kgs 13:2And he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, “O altar, O altar, this is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David, and upon you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and human bones will be burned upon you.’”

    3. 1 Kgs 13:3That day the man of God gave a sign, saying, “The LORD has spoken this sign: ‘Surely the altar will be split apart, and the ashes upon it will be poured out.’”

    4. 1 Kgs 13:4Now when King Jeroboam, who was at the altar in Bethel, heard the word that the man of God had cried out against it, he stretched out his hand and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward him withered, so that he could not pull it back.

    5. 1 Kgs 13:5And the altar was split apart, and the ashes poured out, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

    6. 1 Kgs 13:6Then the king responded to the man of God, “Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored to him as it was before.

    7. 1 Kgs 13:7Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”

    8. 1 Kgs 13:8But 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. 1 Kgs 13:9For 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. 1 Kgs 13:10So the man of God went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.

    11. 1 Kgs 13:11Now 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.

    12. 1 Kgs 13:12“Which way did he go?” their father asked. And his sons showed him the way taken by the man of God, who had come from Judah.

    13. 1 Kgs 13:13So the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” Then they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it

    14. 1 Kgs 13:14and went after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “I am,” he replied.

    15. 1 Kgs 13:15So the prophet said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat some bread.”

    16. 1 Kgs 13:16But the man replied, “I cannot go home with you, and I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place.

    17. 1 Kgs 13:17For I have been told by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’”

    18. 1 Kgs 13:18Then the prophet replied, “I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” The old prophet was lying to him,

    19. 1 Kgs 13:19but the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.

    20. 1 Kgs 13:20While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back,

    21. 1 Kgs 13:21and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because you have defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the commandment that the LORD your God gave you,

    22. 1 Kgs 13:22but you went back and ate bread and drank water in the place where He told you not to do so, your body shall never reach the tomb of your fathers.’”

    23. 1 Kgs 13:23And after the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the old prophet who had brought him back saddled the donkey for him.

    24. 1 Kgs 13:24As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it.

    25. 1 Kgs 13:25And there were men passing by who saw the body lying in the road with the lion standing beside it, and they went and reported this in the city where the old prophet lived.

    26. 1 Kgs 13:26When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard this, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the command of the LORD. Therefore the LORD has delivered him to the lion, and it has mauled him and killed him, according to the word that the LORD had spoken to him.”

    27. 1 Kgs 13:27Then the old prophet instructed his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it,

    28. 1 Kgs 13:28and he went and found the body lying in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body or mauled the donkey.

    29. 1 Kgs 13:29So the old prophet lifted up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him.

    30. 1 Kgs 13:30Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they lamented over him, “Oh, my brother!”

    31. 1 Kgs 13:31After he had buried him, the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, you must bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones,

    32. 1 Kgs 13:32for the message that he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria will surely come to pass.”

    33. 1 Kgs 13:33Even after these events, Jeroboam did not repent of his evil ways, but again he appointed priests for the high places from every class of people. He ordained anyone who desired to be a priest of the high places.

    34. 1 Kgs 13:34And this was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its extermination and destruction from the face of the earth.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 289 passages were voted onto 28 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 12 Kings 23:17Then the king asked, “What is this monument I see?” And the men of the city replied, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done to the altar of Bethel.”
    • 11 Kings 12:32–33And Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had set up, and he installed priests in Bethel for the high places he had set up.
    • 181 John 4:1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
    • 8Numbers 24:13that even if Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the LORD? I must speak whatever the LORD says.
    • 11 Thessalonians 4:15By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep.
    • 6Exodus 10:17Now please forgive my sin once more and appeal to the LORD your God, that He may remove this death from me.”
    • 6Acts 8:24Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
    • 6Exodus 8:8Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people. Then I will let your people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD.”
    • 8Numbers 22:18But Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything small or great to go beyond the command of the LORD my God.
    • 18Matthew 7:15Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
    • 321 Kings 16:24He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city there, calling it Samaria after the name of Shemer, who had owned the hill.
    • 1Jeremiah 25:3“From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—twenty-three years—the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.
    • 6Luke 6:27–28But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
    • 72 Kings 5:15Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God, stood before him, and declared, “Now I know for sure that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”
    • 241 Kings 20:36Then the prophet said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, as soon as you depart from me a lion will kill you.” And when he left, a lion found him and killed him.
    • 30Jeremiah 22:18Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’

    Onward

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    Next chapter1 Kings 1431 verses.Named hereJeroboamEverything the graph connects to this name.Book1 KingsAll 22 chapters.Every bookThe Bible66 books, 1,189 chapters.