32 In the eighth month on the 15th, Yarov’am (Jeroboam) put on a celebration like the one in Yehudah (Judah).[ref] He’d made an altar at Beyt-El (Bethel) and he got the priests from the hill temples he’d made to come and stand there, then he offered a sacrifice on that altar to the calves that he’d made. 33 That date of the 15th day of the eighth month was one that he’d just decided for himself, and he instituted a new celebration for the Israelis and he burnt incense on the altar as a sacrifice.

13 Then a prophet from of God came from Yehudah, taking Yahweh’s message to Beyt-El. as Yarov’am was standing by the altar to burn incense. 2 The prophet called out against the altar with Yahweh’s message: “Altar! Altar! Yahweh says this: Listen, one of David’s descendants will have a son who’ll be named Yoshiyah (Josiah), and he’ll sacrifice the priests from the hill temples on you—the ones who are burning incense on you. Yes, human bones will be burnt on you.”[ref] 3 Then he offered them evidence that what he said came from Yahweh, “Listen, that altar will be broken into pieces, and the ashes in it will spill all over the ground.”

4 The moment the King Yarov’am heard the message that the man of God had called out against the altar at Beyt-El, he called for the man to be arrested. However, the arm that he used to point to him over the altar suddenly became paralysed and he wasn’t able to pull it back. 5 Then the altar itself broke open and ashes poured out onto the ground, exactly as Yahweh had promised through that man of God. 6 Then the king begged the prophet, “Please, pray to your god Yahweh for me, so my hand will return to normal.”

So the man of God interceded with Yahweh, and the king was able to use his hand again. 7 “Come home with me,” the king told the prophet, “and have something to eat. Then I’ve got a gift to give you.”

8 But the man of God replied, “Even if you offered me half of your house, I wouldn’t go with you, and I wouldn’t eat or drink in this place. 9 Yahweh already told me not to eat or drink here, and not to return home by the same road I came on.” 10 Then he left for home taking a different route from the one he’d used to come to Beyt-El.