1   And behold a man of God came out of Iuda, in the word of our Lord into Bethel, Ieroboam ^note standing vpon the altar, and censing.

2   And he cried out against the altar in the word of our Lord, and sayd: Altar, altar, thus saith our Lord: Behold a child shal be borne to the house of Dauid, named ^note Iosias, and he shal immolate vpon thee priestes of the excelses, which now doe burne frankencense on thee, and he shal burne mens bones vpon thee.

3   And he gaue a signe in that day, saying: This shal be the signe, that our Lord hath spoken: Behold the altar shal be clouen, and the ashes shal be powred out in it.

4   And when the king had heard the word of the man of God, which he cried out against the altar in Bethel, he stretched forth his hand from the altar, saying: Take him. And his hand withered, which he stretched forth agaynst him: neither was he able to draw it backe vnto him.

5   The altar also was clouen, and the ashes were powred out of the altar, according to the signe which the man of God had told before in the word of our Lord.

6   And the king said to the man of God: Besech the face of our Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me. And the man of God besought the face of our Lord, and the kinges hand was restored to him, and it became as it was before.

7   And the king spake to the man of God: Come home with me, that thou mayst dyne, and I wil geue the giftes.

8   And the man of God answered the king: If thou wouldest geue me the halfe part of thy house, I wil not come with thee, nor eate bread, nor drinke water in this place:

9   for so was it enioyned in the word of our Lord c&obar;manding: Thou shalt not eate bread nor drinke water, nor returne by the way that thou camest.

10   He departed therfore by an other way, and returned not by the way, that the came into Bethel.

Ieroboam. Ahias.

11   And a certaine prophete being old dwelt in Bethel, to whom his sonnes came and told him al the workes, that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: and the wordes which he had spoken to the king, they told their father.

12   And their father sayd to them: What way went he? His sonnes shewed him the way, by which the man of God was gone, which came out of Iuda.

13   And he said to his sonnes: Sadle me and asse. Who when they had sadled it, he got vp,

14   and went after the man of God, and found him sitting vnder a terebinth: and he said to him: Art thou the man of God that camest out of Iuda? He answered: I am he.

15   And he sayd to him: Come home with me, that thou mayst eate bread.

16   Who sayd: I can not returne, nor come with thee, neither wil I eate bread, nor drinke water in this place:

17   because our Lord spake to me in the word of our Lord, saying: Thou shalt not eate bread, and thou shalt not drinke water there, nor returne by the way thou wentest.

18   Who sayd to him: I also am a prophet like to thee: and ^note an Angel hath spoken to me in the word of our Lord, saying: Bring him backe with thee into thy house, that he may eate bread, and drinke water. He deceiued him,

19   and brought him backe with him: he did eate therfore bread in his house, and drunke water.

20   And when they sate at the table, the word, of our Lord came to the prophete, that brought him backe.

21   And he cried out to the man of God, which came out of Iuda, saying: Thus sayth our Lord: Because thou hast not beene obedient to the mouth of our Lord, and hast not kept the commandment, which our Lord thy God commanded thee,

22   and hast returned, and eaten bread, & drunke water in the place wherin he commanded thee that thou shouldest not eate bread, nor drinke water, thy dead bodie shal not be brought into the sepulchre of thy fathers.

23   And when he had eaten & drunke, he sadled his asse for the prophet, whom he brought backe.

24   Who when he was gone, a lion found him in the way, and ^note killed him, and his bodie was cast forth in the way: and the asse stood by him, and the lion stood by the dead bodie.

25   And behold, men passing by saw the dead bodie cast in the way, and the lion standing beside the bodie. And they came and diuulged it in the citie, wherein that old prophet dwelt.

26   Which when that prophet heard, which had brought him backe out of the way, he sayd: It is the

Ieroboam. man of God, that was disobedient to the mouth of our Lord, and our Lord hath deliuered him to the lion, & he hath torne him, and killed him according to the word of our Lord, that he spake to him.

27   And he sayd to his sonnes: Sadle me an asse. Who when they had sadled,

28   and he was gone, he found his dead bodie cast forth in the way, and the asse and the lion standing by the corse: the lion ^note did not eate of the dead bodie, nor hurt the asse.

29   The prophet therfore tooke the corse of the man of God, and layd it vpon the asse, and returning brought it into the citie of the old prophete, that they might mourne for him.

30   And he layd his corse in his owne sepulchre: and they mourned for him: Alas, alas my brother.

31   And when they had mourned for him, he sayd to his sonnes: When I shal be dead, burie me in the sepulchre, wherein the man of Ged is buried: beside his bones lay my bones.

32   For assuredly the word shal come to passe, which he hath foretold in the word of our Lord agaynst the altar that is in Bethel: and agaynst al the temples of the excelses, that are in the cities of Samaria.

33   After these wordes Ieroboam returned not from his wicked way: but on the contrarie part he made of the most abiect of the people priestes of the excelses: Whosoeuer would, he filled his hand, and he was made a priest of the excelses.

34   And for this cause did the house of Ieroboam sinne, and was ouerthrowen, and destroyed from the face of the earth.

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