²⁵ For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites; you have no portion in the Lord.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord.

²¹ You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God.^(A)

²⁰ Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven is the one who will give us success, and we his servants are going to start building, but you have no share or claim or memorial in Jerusalem.”^(A)

² they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of families and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of King Esar-haddon of Assyria, who brought us here.”^{(A) 3} But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of families in Israel said to them, “You shall have no part with us in building a house for our God, but we alone will build for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus of Persia has commanded us.”^(B)

³⁰ because of the sins of Jeroboam that he committed and that he caused Israel to commit and because of the anger to which he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel.^(A)

¹⁶ He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and which he caused Israel to commit.”^(A)

²⁷ If this people continues to go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, the heart of this people will turn again to their master, King Rehoboam of Judah; they will kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.”^{(A) 28} So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. He said to the people,^[a] “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”^{(B) 29} He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.^{(C) 30} And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one at Bethel and before the other as far as Dan.^[b](D)

¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king,

So Israel went away to their tents.^(A)

The Rebellion of Sheba

20 Now a scoundrel named Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjaminite, happened to be there. He sounded the trumpet and cried out,

¹⁹ Now, therefore, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the Lord who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is mortals, may they be cursed before the Lord, for they have driven me out today from my share in the heritage of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’^(A)