Jeroboam's Golden Calves

²⁵ Then Jeroboam ^(A)built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and ^(B)built Penuel. ²⁶ And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. ²⁷ If this people ^(C)go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” ²⁸ So the king took counsel and ^(D)made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. ^(E)Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” ²⁹ And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. ³⁰ Then ^(F)this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.^{[a] 31} He also made ^(G)temples on high places and ^(H)appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. ³² And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like ^(I)the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel ^(J)the priests of the high places that he had made. ³³ He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar ^(K)to make offerings.

A Man of God Confronts Jeroboam

13 And behold, ^(L)a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar ^(M)to make offerings. ^2 (N)And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, ^(O)Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’” ³ And he gave ^(P)a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.’” ⁴ And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. ⁵ The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. ⁶ And the king said to the man of God, ^(Q)“Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king's hand was restored to him and became as it was before. ⁷ And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and ^(R)I will give you a reward.” ⁸ And the man of God said to the king, ^(S)“If you give me half your house, ^(T)I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place, ⁹ for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.’” ¹⁰ So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.

The Prophet's Disobedience

¹¹ Now ^(A)an old prophet lived in Bethel. And his sons^[a] came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king. ¹² And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone. ¹³ And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him and he mounted it. ¹⁴ And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” ¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” ¹⁶ And he said, ^(B)“I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, ¹⁷ for it was said to me ^(C)by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’” ¹⁸ And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. ¹⁹ So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.

²⁰ And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. ²¹ And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the command that the Lord your God commanded you, ²² but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’” ²³ And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴ And as he went away ^(D)a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body. ²⁵ And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where ^(E)the old prophet lived.

²⁶ And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the Lord; therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the Lord spoke to him.” ²⁷ And he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And they saddled it. ²⁸ And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey. ²⁹ And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city^[b] to mourn and to bury him. ³⁰ And he laid the body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, ^(F)“Alas, my brother!” ³¹ And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; ^(G)lay my bones beside his bones. ^32 (H)For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against ^(I)all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of ^(J)Samaria shall surely come to pass.”

³³ After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places. ^34 (K)And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, ^(L)so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.

The Parable of the Ten Minas

¹¹ As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because ^(A)they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. ¹² He said therefore, ^(B)“A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. ¹³ Calling ^(C)ten of his servants,^[a] he gave them ten minas,^[b] and said to them, ‘Engage in business ^(D)until I come.’ ¹⁴ But ^(E)his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ ¹⁵ When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. ¹⁶ The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ ¹⁷ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant!^[c] Because you have been ^(F)faithful in a very little, ^(G)you shall have authority over ten cities.’ ¹⁸ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ ¹⁹ And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ ²⁰ Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in ^(H)a handkerchief; ²¹ for I was afraid of you, because you are ^(I)a severe man. You take ^(J)what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ ²² He said to him, ^(K)‘I will condemn you with your own words, ^(L)you wicked servant! You knew that I was ^(M)a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? ²³ Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ ²⁴ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ ²⁵ And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ ²⁶ ‘I tell you that ^(N)to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ²⁷ But ^(O)as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and ^(P)slaughter them before me.’”

The Triumphal Entry

²⁸ And when he had said these things, ^(Q)he went on ahead, ^(R)going up to Jerusalem.