A Man of God Confronts Jeroboam

1 And behold, a ^aman of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make offerings. 2 ^bAnd the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, ^cJosiah by name, and ^dhe shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and ^ehuman bones shall be burned on you.’” 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’” 4 And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. 5 The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. 6 And the king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it was before. 7 And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” 8 And the man of God said to the king, ^f“If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place, 9 for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.’” 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.

The Prophet’s Disobedience

11 Now an old prophet lived in Bethel. And his sons¹ came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king. 12 And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone. 13 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he mounted it. 14 And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” 15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” 16 And he said, “I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, 17 for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’” 18 And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. 19 So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.

20 And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. 21 And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the command that the Lord your God commanded you, 22 but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’” 23 And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 ^gAnd as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body. 25 And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.

26 And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the Lord spoke to him.” 27 And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. 28 And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey. 29 And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city² to mourn and to bury him. 30 And he laid the body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, ^h“Alas, my brother!” 31 And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, ⁱbury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the ^jhouses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.”

33 After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but ^kmade priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places. 34 And ^lthis thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to ^mcut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.

Who Is like the Lord Our God?

Greeting

1 Paul, an ^aapostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To the saints and ^bfaithful brothers¹ in Christ at Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

3 ^cWe always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since ^dwe heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the ^ehope ^flaid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the ^gword of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed ^hin the whole world it is ⁱbearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you ^jheard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from ^kEpaphras our beloved fellow servant.² He is a faithful minister of Christ on your³ behalf 8 and has made known to us your ^llove in the Spirit.

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have ^mnot ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge ⁿof his will in ^oall spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to ^pwalk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: ^qbearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being ^rstrengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks⁴ to the Father, who has qualified you⁵ to share in the ^sinheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has ^tdelivered us from the ^udomain of darkness and ^vtransferred us to the kingdom of his ^wbeloved Son, 14 in whom we have ^xredemption, the ^yforgiveness of sins.

The Preeminence of Christ

15 He is the ^zimage of the ^ainvisible God, ^bthe firstborn of all creation. 16 For ^cby⁶ him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^dthrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is ^ebefore all things, and in him all things ^fhold together. 18 And he is the ^ghead of the body, the church. He is ^hthe beginning, ⁱthe firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be ^jpreeminent. 19 For in him all the ^kfullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him ^lto reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, ^mmaking peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, ⁿwho once were ^oalienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now ^preconciled ^qin his body of flesh by his death, ^rin order to present you ^sholy and blameless and ^tabove reproach before him, 23 ^uif indeed you continue in the faith, ^vstable and ^wsteadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation⁷ under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a ^xminister.

Paul’s Ministry to the Church

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am ^yfilling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his ^zbody, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the ^astewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the ^bmystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them ^cGod chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the ^driches of the glory of this ^emystery, which is Christ ^fin you, the ^ghope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone ^hmature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling ⁱwith all his energy that he powerfully ^jworks within me.

1 For I want you to know how great a ^kstruggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be ^lencouraged, being ^mknit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s ⁿmystery, which is Christ, 3 ^oin whom are hidden ^pall the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am ^qabsent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good ^rorder and the ^sfirmness of your faith in Christ.

Alive in Christ

6 Therefore, ^tas you ^ureceived Christ Jesus the Lord, so ^vwalk in him, 7 ^wrooted and ^xbuilt up in him and established in the faith, just as you were ^ytaught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8 See to it that no one ^ztakes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human ^atradition, according to the ^belemental spirits⁸ of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole ^cfullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and ^dyou have been filled in him, who is the ^ehead of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were ^fcircumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by ^gputting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been ^hburied with him in ⁱbaptism, in which you were also ^jraised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, ^kwho raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were ^ldead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 ^mby ⁿcanceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the ^orulers and authorities⁹ and put them to open shame, by ^ptriumphing over them in him.¹⁰

Let No One Disqualify You

16 Therefore ^qlet no one pass judgment on you in questions of ^rfood and drink, or ^swith regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a ^tshadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one ^udisqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions,^{11 v}puffed up ^wwithout reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the ^xHead, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, ^ywhy, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 ^z“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 ^a(referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to ^bhuman precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in ^cstopping the indulgence of the flesh.