Jeroboam’s Idolatry

²⁵ Later on, Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. He also expanded from there and built Penuel. ²⁶ Jeroboam was thinking to himself, “The kingdom is about to return to David’s control.^{[a] 27} If these people keep going up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the Lord there, the hearts of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. Then they’ll kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah!” ²⁸ So the king sought some advice and then built two golden calves and announced, “It’s too difficult for you to travel to Jerusalem. So here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” ²⁹ He set one of them in Bethel and placed the other one in Dan. ³⁰ Doing this was sinful, because the people traveled as far as Dan to appear before one of their idols.^{[b] 31} Jeroboam^[c] built temples on the high places, and appointed his own priests from the fringe elements of the people who were not descendants of Levi.

³² Jeroboam invented a festival for the fifteenth day of the eighth month similar to the festival that takes place in Judah. He approached the altar that he had set up in Bethel and sacrificed to the calves that he had made, having stationed in Bethel the priests that he had appointed.