But God told the prophet Shemaiah

"Whose tomb is that?" he asked. The people of Bethel answered, "It is the tomb of the prophet who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done to this altar."

The rest of the history of Solomon from beginning to end is recorded in The History of Nathan the Prophet,in The Prophecy of Ahijah of Shiloh,and in The Visions of Iddo the Prophet,which also deal with the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel.

The altar suddenly fell apart and the ashes spilled to the ground, as the prophet had predicted in the name of the LORD.

The LORD has commanded me not to eat or drink a thing, and not to return home the same way I came."

When the old prophet heard about it, he said, "That is the prophet who disobeyed the LORD's command! And so the LORD sent the lion to attack and kill him, just as the LORD said he would."

The words that he spoke at the LORD's command against the altar in Bethel and against all the places of worship in the towns of Samaria will surely come true."

At the LORD's command a member of a group of prophets ordered a fellow prophet to hit him. But he refused,

"For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah until this very day, the LORD has spoken to me, and I have never failed to tell you what he said. But you have paid no attention.

W_ hat we are teaching you now is the Lord's teaching: we who are alive on the day the Lord comes will not go ahead of those who have died.

Jeroboam also instituted a religious festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival in Judah. On the altar in Bethel he offered sacrifices to the gold bull-calves he had made, and he placed there in Bethel the priests serving at the places of worship he had built.

And on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the day that he himself had set, he went to Bethel and offered a sacrifice on the altar in celebration of the festival he had instituted for the people of Israel.

to resist him. They said, "Uzziah! You have no right to burn incense to the LORD. Only the priests who are descended from Aaron have been consecrated to do this. Leave this holy place. You have offended the LORD God, and you no longer have his blessing."

This was a warning to the Israelites that no one who was not a descendant of Aaron should come to the altar to burn incense for the LORD. Otherwise he would be destroyed like Korah and his men. All this was done as the LORD had commanded Eleazar through Moses.

Then the people of Judah and of Jerusalem will go to the gods to whom they offer sacrifices and will cry out to them for help. But those gods will not be able to save them when this destruction comes.

and set it on fire. They will burn it down, together with the houses where people have made me angry by burning incense to Baal on the rooftops and by pouring out wine offerings to other gods.

People from one end of the world to the other honor me. Everywhere they burn incense to me and offer acceptable sacrifices. All of them honor me!

Another angel, who had a gold incense container, came and stood at the altar. He was given a lot of incense to add to the prayers of all God's people and to offer it on the gold altar that stands before the throne.