1 Kings 12:25–33

Golden Calves at Bethel and Dan

²⁵Then Jeroboam fortified Shechemⁱ in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built up Peniel.^cj

²⁶Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. ²⁷If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem,^k they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”

²⁸After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves.^l He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”^{m 29}One he set up in Bethel,ⁿ and the other in Dan.^{o 30}And this thing became a sin;^p the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.^d

³¹Jeroboam built shrines^q on high places and appointed priests^r from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. ³²He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth^s month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel,^t sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. ³³On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel.^u So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.