1 Kings 12:25-13:10

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Jeroboam’s Idolatry

²⁵ Jeroboam built Shechem^(A) in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built Penuel.^{(B) 26} Jeroboam said to himself, “The way things are going now, the kingdom might return to the house of David.^{(C) 27} If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem,^(D) the heart of these people will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will murder me and go back to the king of Judah.” 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 is your God^[a] who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”^{(E) 29} He set up one in Bethel,^(F) and put the other in Dan.^{(G) 30} This led to sin;^(H) the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan.^[b](I)

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

Judgment on Jeroboam

13 A man of God^(P) came from Judah to Bethel by a revelation from the Lord while Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense.^{(Q) 2} The man of God cried out against the altar by a revelation from 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.’”^{(R) 3} He gave a sign^(S) 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.’”^(T)

⁴ When the king heard the word 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.

⁶ Then the king responded to the man of God, “Plead for the favor of the Lord your God and pray for me^(U) so that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God pleaded for the favor of the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it had been at first.

⁷ Then the king declared to the man of God, “Come home with me, refresh yourself, and I’ll give you a reward.”^(V)

⁸ But the man of God replied, “If you were to give me half your house,^(W) I still wouldn’t go with you, and I wouldn’t eat bread or drink water in this place, ⁹ for this is what I was commanded by the word of the Lord:^(X) ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or go back the way you came.’” ¹⁰ So he went another way; he did not go back by the way he had come to Bethel.