The old prophet from Bethel

11 At that time there was an old man living in Bethel who was a prophet. His sons came and told him what the prophet from Judah had done there on that day, and they also told him what the prophet had said to the king. 12 Their father said, “On which road did he go?” So his sons showed him the road on which the prophet from Judah had gone when he left Bethel. 13 Then he said to his sons, “Put a saddle on my donkey.” So they did that, and he got on the donkey. 14 He went along the road to ◄find/catch up with► the prophet from Judah. He found him sitting under an oak tree. He said to him, “Are you the prophet who came from Judah?” He replied, “Yes, I am.”

15 The old prophet said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.”

16 He replied, “No, I am not allowed to go with you into your house, or to eat or drink anything with you, 17 because Yahweh told me, ‘Do not eat or drink anything here, and do not return home on the road on which you came.’ ”

18 Then the old prophet said to him, “I also am a prophet, like you are. Yahweh sent an angel to tell me that I should take you home with me and give you some food and drink.” But the old man was lying when he said that. 19 But because of what the old prophet said, the prophet from Judah returned with him to his home and ate some food and drank some water with him.

20 While they were sitting at the table, Yahweh spoke to the old man. 21 Then he cried out to the prophet from Judah, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘You have disobeyed him, and you have not done what he commanded you to do. 22 Instead, you have come back here and had things to eat and drink in a place where he commanded you not to do that. As a result, you will be killed, and your body will not be buried in the grave where your ancestors are buried.’ ”

23 When they had finished eating, the old man put a saddle on the donkey for the prophet from Judah, and the prophet from Judah left. 24 But as he was going, a lion met him and killed him. The prophet’s corpse was lying on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it, and the lion was also standing beside the corpse. 25 Some men passed by and were surprised to see the corpse on the road and the lion standing next to the corpse. So they went into Bethel and reported what they had seen.

26 When the old man who had brought the prophet from Judah to his home heard about it, he said, “That is the prophet who disobeyed what Yahweh told him to do! That is why Yahweh allowed the lion to attack him and kill him. That is what Yahweh said would happen!”

27 Then he said to his sons, “Put a saddle on my donkey.” So they did that. 28 Then he rode on the donkey and found the prophet’s corpse on the road, and his donkey and the lion were still standing there alongside the corpse. But the lion had not eaten any of the flesh of the prophet and had not attacked the donkey. 29 The old man picked up the corpse of the prophet and put it on his donkey and brought it back to Bethel, in order to mourn for him and to bury his corpse. 30 He buried the prophet’s corpse in the grave where other people in his family had been buried. Then he and his sons mourned for him, saying, “We are very sorry, my brother!”

31 After they had buried him, the old man said to his sons, “When I die, bury my corpse in the grave where we buried the prophet from Judah. Lay my corpse next to his corpse. 32 And do not forget what he said, because the things that Yahweh told him to say about the altar in Bethel, and about the shrines on the hills in the towns in Samaria, will surely happen.”

33 But King Jeroboam still did not turn away from continuing to do evil things. Instead, he appointed more priests who were not descended from Levi. Anyone who wanted to be a priest, he appointed to be a priest, in order that he could offer sacrifices on the hills. 34 Because he committed that sin, a few years later God got rid of most of Jeroboam’s descendants and did not allow them to become kings of Israel.