²⁸ So the king sought advice.

Then he made two golden calves, and he said to the people, “Going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Israel, here are your gods^[a] who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”^{(A) 29} He set up one in Bethel,^(B) and put the other in Dan.^{(C) 30} This led to sin;^(D) the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan.^[b](E)

³¹ Jeroboam also made shrines^[c] on the high places^(F) and made priests from the ranks of the people who were not Levites.^{(G) 32} Jeroboam made a festival in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival in Judah.^(H) He offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had made. He also stationed the priests in Bethel for the high places he had made.^{(I) 33} He offered sacrifices on^[d] the altar he had set up in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. He chose this month on his own.^(J) He made a festival for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.^(K)

Judgment on Jeroboam

13 A man of God^(A) came, however, from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord while Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense.^{(B) 2} The man of God cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord: “Altar, altar, this is what the Lord says, ‘A son will be born to the house of David, named Josiah, and he will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who are burning incense on you. Human bones will be burned on you.’”^{(C) 3} He gave a sign^(D) that day. He said, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘The altar will now be ripped apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.’”^(E)

⁴ When the king heard the message that the man of God had cried out against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Arrest him!” But the hand he stretched out against him withered, and he could not pull it back to himself. ⁵ The altar was ripped apart, and the ashes poured from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.

²⁹ but he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit—worshiping the gold calves that were in Bethel and Dan.^(A)

¹⁵ He even tore down the altar at Bethel^(A) and the high place^(B) that had been made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He burned the high place, crushed it to dust, and burned the Asherah.^(C)

Warnings for Israel and Judah