Discovery Box1 Kings 13:11-32 
Context13:11 Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel. 1 When his sons came home, they told their father 2 everything the prophet 3 had done in Bethel that day and all the words he had spoken to the king. 4 13:12 Their father asked them, “Which road did he take?” His sons showed him 5 the road the prophet 6 from Judah had taken. 13:13 He then told his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” When they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it 13:14 and took off after the prophet, 7 whom he found sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the prophet 8 from Judah?” He answered, “Yes, I am.” 13:15 He then said to him, “Come home with me and eat something.” 13:16 But he replied, “I can’t go back with you 9 or eat and drink 10 with you in this place. 13:17 For the Lord gave me strict orders, 11 ‘Do not eat or drink 12 there; do not go back the way you came.’” 13:18 The old prophet then said, 13 “I too am a prophet like you. An angel told me with the Lord’s authority, 14 ‘Bring him back with you to your house so he can eat and drink.’” 15 But he was lying to him. 16 13:19 So the prophet went back with him and ate and drank in his house. 17
13:20 While they were sitting at the table, the Lord spoke through the old prophet 18 13:21 and he cried out to the prophet from Judah, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You 19 have rebelled against the Lord 20 and have not obeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. 13:22 You went back and ate and drank in this place, even though he said to you, “Do not eat or drink there.” 21 Therefore 22 your corpse will not be buried in your ancestral tomb.’” 23
13:23 When the prophet from Judah finished his meal, 24 the old prophet saddled his visitor’s donkey for him. 25 13:24 As the prophet from Judah was traveling, a lion attacked him on the road and killed him. 26 His corpse was lying on the road, and the donkey and the lion just stood there beside it. 27 13:25 Some men came by 28 and saw the corpse lying in the road with the lion standing beside it. 29 They went and reported what they had seen 30 in the city where the old prophet lived. 13:26 When the old prophet who had invited him to his house heard the news, 31 he said, “It is the prophet 32 who rebelled against the Lord. 33 The Lord delivered him over to the lion and it ripped him up 34 and killed him, just as the Lord warned him.” 35 13:27 He told his sons, “Saddle my donkey,” and they did so. 36 13:28 He went and found the corpse lying in the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside it; 37 the lion had neither eaten the corpse nor attacked the donkey. 13:29 The old prophet 38 picked up the corpse of the prophet, 39 put it on the donkey, and brought it back. The old prophet then entered the city to mourn him and to bury him. 13:30 He put the corpse into his own tomb, and they 40 mourned over him, saying, “Ah, my brother!” 13:31 After he buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the prophet 41 is buried; put my bones right beside his bones, 13:32 for the prophecy he announced with the Lord’s authority 42 against the altar in Bethel 43 and against all the temples on the high places in the cities of the north 44 will certainly be fulfilled.”
1 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
2 tn Heb “and his son came and told him.” The MT has the singular here, but several other textual witnesses have the plural, which is more consistent with the second half of the verse and with vv. 12-13.
3 tn Heb “the man of God.”
4 tn Heb “all the actions which the man of God performed that day in Bethel, the words which he spoke to the king, and they told them to their father.”
5 tn The Hebrew text has “and his sons saw” (וַיִּרְאוּ [vayyir’u], Qal from רָאָה [ra’ah]). In this case the verbal construction (vav consecutive + prefixed verbal form) would have to be understood as pluperfect, “his sons had seen.” Such uses of this construction are rare at best. Consequently many, following the lead of the ancient versions, prefer to emend the verbal form to a Hiphil with pronominal suffix (וַיַּרְאֻהוּ [vayyar’uhu], “and they showed him”).
6 tn Heb “the man of God.”
7 tn Heb “the man of God.”
8 tn Heb “the man of God.”
9 tn Heb “I am unable to return with you or to go with you.”
10 tn Heb “eat food and drink water.”
11 tn Heb “for a word to me by the word of the
12 tn Heb “eat food and drink water.”
13 tn Heb “and he said to him.”
14 tn Heb “by the word of the
15 tn Heb “eat food and drink water.”
16 tn Or “deceiving him.”
sn He was lying to him. The motives and actions of the old prophet are difficult to understand. The old man’s response to the prophet’s death (see vv. 26-32) suggests he did not trick him with malicious intent. The old prophet probably wanted the honor of entertaining such a celebrity, or perhaps simply desired some social interaction with a fellow prophet.
17 tn Heb “and he returned with him and ate food in his house and drank water.”
18 tn Heb “and the word of the
19 tn The Hebrew text has “because” at the beginning of the sentence. In the Hebrew text vv. 21-22 are one long sentence comprised of a causal clause giving the reason for divine punishment (vv. 21-22a) and the main clause announcing the punishment (v. 22b). The translation divides this lengthy sentence for stylistic reasons.
20 tn Heb “the mouth [i.e., command] of the
21 tn Heb “and you returned and ate food and drank water in the place about which he said to you, ‘do not eat food and do not drink water.’”
22 tn “Therefore” is added for stylistic reasons. See the note at 1 Kgs 13:21 pertaining to the grammatical structure of vv. 21-22.
23 tn Heb “will not go to the tomb of your fathers.”
24 tn Heb “and after he had eaten food and after he had drunk.”
25 tn Heb “and he saddled for him the donkey, for the prophet whom he had brought back.”
26 tn Heb “and he went and a lion met him in the road and killed him.”
27 tn Heb “and his corpse fell on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it, and the lion was standing beside the corpse.”
28 tn Heb “Look, men were passing by.”
29 tn Heb “the corpse.” The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“it”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
30 tn The words “what they had seen” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
31 tn Heb “and the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard.”
32 tn Heb “the man of God.”
33 tn Heb “the mouth of the
34 tn Heb “broke him,” or “crushed him.”
35 tn Heb “according to the word of the
36 tn Heb “and they saddled [it].”
37 tn Heb “the corpse.” The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“it”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
38 tn Heb “the prophet.” The word “old” has been supplied in the translation to distinguish this individual from the other prophet.
39 tn Heb “the man of God.”
40 tn “They” is the reading of the Hebrew text here; perhaps this is meant to include not only the old prophet but his sons (cf. v. 31).
41 tn Heb “the man of God.”
42 tn Heb “for the word which he cried out by the word of the
43 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
44 tn Heb “Samaria.” The name of Israel’s capital city here stands for the northern kingdom as a whole. Actually Samaria was not built and named until several years after this (see 1 Kgs 16:24), so it is likely that the author of Kings, writing at a later time, is here adapting the old prophet’s original statement.
