A free printable Bible study for your group.

Want everyone to read 1 Kings 13 during the week, answer privately, and see every answer appear together when you meet? That's Favor. Start your free week or see the 1 Kings 13 Bible study.

Bible study · 1 Kings 13:1-34

1 Kings 13: By the LORD's word

Read 1 Kings 13:1-34 before you meet.

In a few lines

One Hebrew verb, shuv, runs through the chapter: the man of God was told not to return by the way he came, then "went back" (13:19); and when it was over, "Jeroboam didn’t turn from his evil way" (13:33). In 2 Kings, Josiah burned bones on that altar "according to the LORD’s word which the man of God proclaimed" (2 Kings 23:16).

The verse to carry

“for so was it commanded me by the LORD’s word, saying, ‘You shall eat no bread, drink no water, and don’t return by the way that you came.’”

1 Kings 13:9

To talk about

  1. 1. The man of God knew what the LORD had told him (13:9, 13:17), and someone who said he was "a prophet as you are" told him otherwise (13:18). How do you hold on to what you've read in Scripture when someone you respect tells you something different?

  2. 2. The king put out his hand to seize him, and minutes later the man of God prayed for that same hand (13:4-6). Who is someone you find hard to pray for, and what would it look like to pray for them this week?

  3. 3. Jeroboam saw the altar split and his hand restored, and still "didn’t turn from his evil way" (13:33). What makes it hard to turn, even after God has shown you something clearly?

Prayer requests