Bible Strands
1 Kings 13:10
So the man of God went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the man of God’s immediate compliance with the divine command, marking his departure from Bethel at the precise moment after delivering the prophecy to the king.
The words — וַיֵּלֶךְ (va.ye.lekh) means “and he went,” while שָׁב (shav) means “he returned,” anchoring the verse’s contrast between departure and prohibited return.
The thread — The passage advances the theme of strict adherence to a specific divine directive, directly echoing the prohibition in 1 Kings 13:9 and establishing the narrative foil for the old prophet’s actions in 1 Kings 13:11.
Why it lands — It demands that the reader observe how obedience requires both deliberate action and deliberate avoidance, treating the commanded route as a boundary rather than a suggestion.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth–el.