7. The king spoke to the man of God: "Come with me to the palace and refresh yourself. Let me give you a gift."
8. The man of God said to the king, "Even if you gave me half your palace, I wouldn’t go with you, nor would I eat food or drink water in this place.
9. This is what God commanded me by the Lord’s word: Don’t eat food! Don’t drink water! Don’t return by the way you came!"
10. So the man of God went by a different way. He didn’t return by the way he came to Bethel.
11. Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel. His sons came and told him everything that the man of God had done that day at Bethel. They also told their father the words that he spoke to the king.
12. "Which way did he go?" their father asked them. His sons had seen the way the man of God went when he came from Judah.
13. The old prophet said to his sons, "Saddle my donkey." So they saddled his donkey, and he got on it.
14. He went after the man of God and found him sitting underneath a terebinth tree. He said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?""I am," he replied.
15. The old prophet then said to him, "Come home with me and eat some food."
16. But the man of God answered, "I can’t return or go with you, and I can’t eat food or drink water with you in this place
17. because of the message that came to me from the Lord’s word: Don’t eat food! Don’t drink water! Don’t return by the way you came!"