Jeroboam’s Gold Calves

²⁵ Then Jeroboam ^(A)built^[a] Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built ^(B)Penuel. ²⁶ And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: ²⁷ If these people ^(C)go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

²⁸ Therefore the king asked advice, ^(D)made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. ^(E)Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” ²⁹ And he set up one in ^(F)Bethel, and the other he put in ^(G)Dan. ³⁰ Now this thing became ^(H)a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. ³¹ He made ^[b]shrines on the high places, ^(I)and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

³² Jeroboam ^[c]ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like ^(J)the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. ^(K)And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. ³³ So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had ^(L)devised in his own heart. And he ^[d]ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and ^(M)burned incense.

The Message of the Man of God

13 And behold, ^(A)a man of God went from Judah to Bethel ^[a]by the word of the Lord, ^(B)and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. ² Then he cried out against the altar ^[b]by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a child, ^(C)Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be ^(D)burned on you.’ ” ³ And he gave ^(E)a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.”

⁴ So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. ⁵ The altar also was split apart, 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. ⁶ Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please ^(F)entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.”

So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before. ⁷ Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and ^(G)I will give you a reward.”

⁸ But the man of God said to the king, ^(H)“If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. ⁹ For so it was commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ^(I)‘You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.’ ” ¹⁰ So he went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel.