The Divided Kingdom

and Jeroboam saith in his heart, `Now doth the kingdom turn back to the house of David--

if this people go up to make sacrifices in the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem, then hath the heart of this people turned back unto their lord, unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they have slain me, and turned back unto Rehoboam king of Judah.'

And the king taketh counsel, and maketh two calves of gold, and saith unto them, `Enough to you of going up to Jerusalem; lo, thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'

And he setteth the one in Beth-El, and the other he hath put in Dan,

and this thing becometh a sin, and the people go before the one--unto Dan.

And he maketh the house of high places, and maketh priests of the extremities of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi;

and Jeroboam maketh a festival in the eighth month, in the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival that is in Judah, and he offereth on the altar--so did he in Beth-El--to sacrifice to the calves which he made, and he hath appointed in Beth-El the priests of the high places that he made.

And he offereth up on the altar that he made in Beth-El, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month that he devised of his own heart, and he maketh a festival to the sons of Israel, and offereth on the altar--to make perfume.

And lo, a man of God hath come from Judah, by the word of Jehovah, unto Beth-El, and Jeroboam is standing by the altar--to make perfume;

and he calleth against the altar, by the word of Jehovah, and saith, `Altar! altar! thus said Jehovah, Lo, a son is born to the house of David--Josiah his name--and he hath sacrificed on thee the priests of the high places who are making perfume on thee, and bones of man are burnt on thee.'

And he hath given on that day a sign, saying, `This is the sign that Jehovah hath spoken, Lo, the altar is rent, and the ashes poured forth that are on it.'

And it cometh to pass, at the king's hearing the word of the man of God that he calleth against the altar in Beth-El, that Jeroboam putteth forth his hand from off the altar, saying, `Catch him;' and his hand is dried up that he hath put forth against him, and he is not able to bring it back unto him,

and the altar is rent, and the ashes poured forth from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of Jehovah.

And the king answereth and saith unto the man of God, `Appease, I pray thee, the face of Jehovah thy God, and pray for me, and my hand doth come back unto me;' and the man of God appeaseth the face of Jehovah, and the hand of the king cometh back unto him, and it is as at the beginning.

And the king speaketh unto the man of God, `Come in with me to the house, and refresh thyself, and I give to thee a gift.'

And the man of God saith unto the king, `If thou dost give to me the half of thine house, I do not go in with thee, nor do I eat bread, nor do I drink water, in this place;

for so He commanded me by the word of Jehovah, saying, Thou dost not eat bread nor drink water, nor turn back in the way that thou hast come.'

And he goeth on in another way, and hath not turned back in the way in which he came in unto Beth-El.

And a certain aged prophet is dwelling in Beth-El, and his son cometh and recounteth to him all the deed that the man of God hath done to-day in Beth-El, the words that he hath spoken unto the king, --yea, they recount them to their father.

And their father saith unto them, `Where is this--the way he hath gone?' and his sons see the way that the man of God hath gone who came from Judah.

And he saith unto his sons, `Saddle for me the ass,' and they saddle for him the ass, and he rideth on it,

and goeth after the man of God, and findeth him sitting under the oak, and saith unto him, `Art thou the man of God who hast come from Judah?' and he saith, `I am .'

And he saith unto him, `Come with me to the house, and eat bread.'

And he saith, `I am not able to turn back with thee, and to go in with thee, nor do I eat bread or drink with thee water in this place,

for a word is unto me by the word of Jehovah, Thou dost not eat bread nor drink there water, thou dost not turn back to go in the way in which thou camest.'