5. Also, the altar was torn apart, and the ashes were poured out from the altar, in accord with the sign that the man of God had predicted by the word of the Lord.
6. And the king said to the man of God, "Entreat the face of the Lord your God, and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored to me." And the man of God prayed before the face of the Lord, and the hand of the king was restored to him, and it became as it had been before.
7. Then the king said to the man of God: "Come home with me, so that you may dine. And I will give you gifts."
8. And the man of God responded to the king: "Even if you will give me one half part of your house, I will not go with you, nor eat bread, nor drink water in this place.
9. For so it was commanded to me by the word of the Lord, ordering: 'You shall not eat bread, and you shall not drink water, nor shall you return by the way that you came.' "
10. Then he departed by another way, and he did not return along the way that he had traveled to Bethel.
11. Now a certain elderly prophet was living in Bethel. His sons went to him, and they described to him all the works which the man of God had accomplished on that day in Bethel. And they described to their father the words that he had spoken to the king.
12. And their father said to them, "By which way did he depart?" His sons showed him the way by which the man of God, who had come from Judah, had departed.
13. And he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And when they had saddled it, he climbed on,
14. and he went away after the man of God. And he found him sitting under a terebinth tree. And he said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he responded, "I am."
15. And he said to him, "Come home with me, so that you may eat bread."
16. But he said: "I am not able to turn back, nor to go with you. Neither will I eat bread, or drink water in this place.
17. For the Lord has spoken to me, by the word of the Lord, saying, "You shall not eat bread, and you shall not drink water in that place, nor shall you return by the way that you arrived."