1 Kings 13:3

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: That day the man of God gave a sign, saying, “The LORD has spoken this sign: ‘Surely the altar will be split apart, and the ashes upon it will be poured out.’”
KJV: 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.
WEB: He gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the LORD has spoken: Behold, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.”
ASV: And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which Jehovah hath spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.
DARBY: And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign that Jehovah hath spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.
BLB: And he gave that day a sign, saying, “This [is] the sign that YHWH has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be split apart, and the ashes shall be poured out that [are] on it.’”

ÅB: På samme tid forkynte han et tegn og sa: Dette er tegnet på at Herren har talt: Alteret skal revne, og asken som er på det, skal spredes.
OTB: Så ga han et tegn den dagen og sa, “Dette er tegnet Herren har erklært: Se, alteret skal brytes fra hverandre, og asken på det skal bli spilt ut.”
B1930: På samme tid forkynte han et tegn og sa: Dette er tegnet på at Herren har talt: Alteret skal revne, og asken som er på det, skal spredes.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

1 Corinthians 1:22
For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
Read in context
John 2:18
Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
Read in context
Exodus 4:3–5
And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
Read in context
Isaiah 7:11–14
Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.
Read in context
Judges 6:17
And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.
Read in context
1 Samuel 2:34
And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them.
Read in context
Jeremiah 44:29
And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:
Read in context
Exodus 4:8–9
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
Read in context