2 Kings 23:18

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2 Kings 23:16–20 · Berean Standard Bible

16 And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the hillside, and he sent someone to take the bones out of the tombs, and he burned them on the altar to defile it, according to the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who had foretold these things.

17 Then the king asked, “What is this monument I see?” And the men of the city replied, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced these things that you have done to the altar of Bethel.”

18 “Let him rest,” said Josiah. “Do not let anyone disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed, along with those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

19 Just as Josiah had done at Bethel, so also in the cities of Samaria he removed all the shrines of the high places set up by the kings of Israel who had provoked the LORD to anger.

20 On the altars he slaughtered all the priests of the high places, and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

1 Kings 13:1

Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD.

1 Kings 13:2

And he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, “O altar, O altar, this is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David, and upon you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and human bones will be burned upon you.’”

1 Kings 13:3

That day the man of God gave a sign, saying, “The LORD has spoken this sign: ‘Surely the altar will be split apart, and the ashes upon it will be poured out.’”

1 Kings 13:4

Now when King Jeroboam, who was at the altar in Bethel, heard the word that the man of God had cried out against it, he stretched out his hand and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward him withered, so that he could not pull it back.

1 Kings 13:5

And the altar was split apart, and the ashes poured out, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

1 Kings 13:6

Then the king responded to the man of God, “Intercede with the LORD your God and pray that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored to him as it was before.

1 Kings 13:7

Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”

1 Kings 13:8

But the man of God replied, “If you were to give me half your possessions, I still would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water in this place.

1 Kings 13:9

For this is what I was commanded by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’”

1 Kings 13:10

So the man of God went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.

1 Kings 13:11

Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words that the man had spoken to the king.

1 Kings 13:12

“Which way did he go?” their father asked. And his sons showed him the way taken by the man of God, who had come from Judah.

1 Kings 13:13

So the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” Then they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it

1 Kings 13:14

and went after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “I am,” he replied.

1 Kings 13:15

So the prophet said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat some bread.”

1 Kings 13:16

But the man replied, “I cannot return with you or eat bread or drink water with you in this place.

1 Kings 13:17

For I have been told by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’”

1 Kings 13:18

Then the prophet replied, “I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” The old prophet was lying to him,

1 Kings 13:19

but the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.

1 Kings 13:20

While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back,

1 Kings 13:21

and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because you have defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the commandment that the LORD your God gave you,

1 Kings 13:22

but you went back and ate bread and drank water in the place where He told you not to do so, your body shall never reach the tomb of your fathers.’”

1 Kings 13:31

After he had buried him, the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, you must bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones,