The Prophet Slain by a Lion

1 Kings 13:11-34

Bible Stories

1 Kings 13:11 Now a certain elderly prophet was living in Bethel. His sons went to him, and they described to him all the works which the man of God had accomplished on that day in Bethel. And they described to their father the words that he had spoken to the king.

1 Kings 13:12 And their father said to them, “By which way did he depart?” His sons showed him the way by which the man of God, who had come from Judah, had departed.

1 Kings 13:13 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And when they had saddled it, he climbed on,

1 Kings 13:14 and he went away after the man of God. And he found him sitting under a terebinth tree. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he responded, “I am.”

1 Kings 13:15 And he said to him, “Come home with me, so that you may eat bread.”

1 Kings 13:16 But he said: “I am not able to turn back, nor to go with you. Neither will I eat bread, or drink water in this place. 1 Kings 13:17 For the Lord has spoken to me, by the word of the Lord, saying, “You shall not eat bread, and you shall not drink water in that place, nor shall you return by the way that you arrived.”

1 Kings 13:18 And he said to him: “I, too, am a prophet like you. And an Angel spoke to me, by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Lead him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread, and drink water.’ ” And so he deceived him.

1 Kings 13:19 And he led him back with him. Then he ate bread and drank water in his house.

1 Kings 13:20 And while they were sitting at table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had led him back.

1 Kings 13:21 And he cried out to the man of God who had arrived from Judah, saying: “Thus says the Lord: Because you were not obedient to the mouth of the Lord, and you did not keep the commandment that the Lord your God instructed to you,

1 Kings 13:22 and you turned back, and ate bread, and drank water in the place where he commanded you that you should not eat bread, nor drink water: your dead body shall not be carried back to the sepulcher of your fathers.”

1 Kings 13:23 And when he had eaten and had drunk, he saddled his donkey for the prophet whom he had led back.

1 Kings 13:24 And when he had departed, a lion found him along the way, and it killed him, and his dead body was left upon the road. Now the donkey was standing beside him. And the lion was standing beside the dead body.

1 Kings 13:25 And behold, men who were passing by saw the dead body lying in the road, with the lion standing beside the body. And they went and made it widely known in the city where that elderly prophet was living.

1 Kings 13:26 And when that prophet, who had led him back from the way, had heard it, he said: “It is the man of God, who was disobedient to the mouth of the Lord. And the Lord has delivered him to the lion. And it has torn him apart and killed him, in accord with the word of the Lord, which he spoke to him.”

1 Kings 13:27 And he said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” And when they had saddled it,

1 Kings 13:28 and he had departed, he found the dead body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the dead body. The lion did not eat from the dead body, nor did it harm the donkey.

1 Kings 13:29 Then the prophet took the dead body of the man of God, and he placed it upon the donkey, and returning, he brought it into the city of the elderly prophet, so that he might mourn for him.

1 Kings 13:30 And he placed his dead body in his own sepulcher. And they mourned for him, saying: “Alas! Alas! My brother!”

1 Kings 13:31 And when they had mourned over him, he said to his sons: “When I will have died, bury me in the sepulcher in which the man of God was buried. Place my bones beside his bones.

1 Kings 13:32 For certainly, the word will arrived, which he predicted by the word of the Lord, against the altar, which is in Bethel, and against all the shrines of the high places, which are in the cities of Samaria.”

1 Kings 13:33 After these words, Jeroboam did not turn back from his very evil way. Instead, to the contrary, he made priests for the high places out of the least of the people. Whosoever was willing, he filled his hand, and he became a priest of the high places.

1 Kings 13:34 And for this reason, the house of Jeroboam sinned, and was uprooted, and was wiped from the face of the earth.