Verse Lens · Concise explanation

1 Kings 13:2 Explained in Context

Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.

Selected verse

Verse 2. And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence: “And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “A man of God confronts Bethel's altar.”

Read It With

  • 1 Kings 13:1–10

Read 1 Kings 13:2 with 13:1–10. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Brings an unnamed man of God from Judah to confront Jeroboam's Bethel altar; shows the man of God departing by another road.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Within “A man of God confronts Bethel's altar,” 1 Kings 13:2 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 1 Kings 12:25–33 establishes this prior movement: Notes Jeroboam's construction and occupation of Shechem and Penuel; ends with a ruler-designed calendar and Jeroboam officiating at his own altar. 1 Kings 13:1–10 responds to the pressure, request, or claim already established; that demonstrated relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.

Read 1 Kings 13:1–10 together

Why these verses belong together: A man of God confronts Bethel's altar is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 13:1–13:10.

Verse 1. And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Beth-el: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.

Verse 2. And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.

Verse 3. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.

Verse 4. And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Beth-el, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.

Verse 5. The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

Verse 6. And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king’s hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.

Verse 7. And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.

Verse 8. And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:

Verse 9. For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.

Verse 10. So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el.

What Remains True

Truthful witness may confront power without making every messenger, method, or claimed revelation morally infallible. This unit tests that truth through brings an unnamed man of God from Judah to confront Jeroboam's Bethel altar; shows the man of God departing by another road. In 1 Kings 13:2, the concrete line “And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.

How It Can Shape Life

  • The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus….” Protect dissent, test claims against text and evidence, disclose uncertainty and pressure, and never use prophetic status to bypass safety, consent, or accountable process. This response follows from the unit's own sequence: Brings an unnamed man of God from Judah to confront Jeroboam's Bethel altar; shows the man of God departing by another road.

Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read 1 Kings 13:1–10 — A man of God confronts Bethel's altar
Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? strong

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.

Exact location: 1 Kings 13:1–10, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, name, clause, and older-English checks; this is not a critical apparatus or historical proof.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 13:1–10

Open source ↗

translation and translator notes

NET Bible: 1 Kings with translators' notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2006

Supports: Only printed unit-level translation, lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and verse-numbering notes; silence is not evidence.

Exact location: NET Bible 1 Kings PDF, printed pp. 610–612, translation and translator notes for 13:1–10

Open source ↗
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