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Selected Verse: 1 Kings 12:25 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
1Ki 12:25	Strong Concordance	Then Jeroboam [03379] built [01129] Shechem [07927] in mount [02022] Ephraim [0669], and dwelt [03427] therein; and went out [03318] from thence, and built [01129] Penuel [06439].
	King James	Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel.

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Jeroboam built Shechem--destroyed by Abimelech (Jdg. 9:1-49). It was rebuilt, and perhaps fortified, by Jeroboam, as a royal residence. built Penuel--a ruined city with a tower (Jdg 8:9), east of Jordan, on the north bank of the Jabbok. It was an object of importance to restore this fortress (as it lay on the caravan road from Gilead to Damascus and Palmyra) and to secure his frontier on that quarter.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Jeroboam built Shechem--destroyed by Abimelech (Jdg. 9:1-49). It was rebuilt, and perhaps fortified, by Jeroboam, as a royal residence.

built Penuel--a ruined city with a tower (Jdg 8:9), east of Jordan, on the north bank of the Jabbok. It was an object of importance to restore this fortress (as it lay on the caravan road from Gilead to Damascus and Palmyra) and to secure his frontier on that quarter.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Built Shechem - In the sense of "enlarged and fortified." See Dan 4:30. The first intention of Jeroboam seems to have been to make Shechem his capital, and therefore he immediately set about its fortification. So also he seems to have fortified Penuel for the better security of his Trans-Jordanic possessions (marginal reference).

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
Founding of the Kingdom of Israel. - Kg1 12:25. When Jeroboam had become king, it was his first care to give a firmer basis to his sovereignty by the fortification of Sichem and Pnuel. בּנח, to build, is used here in the sense of fortifying, because both cities had stood for a long time, and nothing is known of their having been destroyed under either Solomon or David, although the tower of Sichem had been burnt down by Abimelech (Jdg 9:49), and the tower of Pnuel had been destroyed by Gideon (Jdg 8:17). Sichem, a place well known from the time of Abraham downwards (Gen 12:6), was situated upon the mountains of Ephraim, between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and still exists under the name of Nabulus or Nabls, a name corrupted from Flavia Neapolis. Jeroboam dwelt therein, i.e., he chose it at first as his residence, though he afterwards resided in Thirza (see Kg1 14:17). Pnuel was situated, according to Gen 32:31, on the other side of the Jordan, on the northern bank of the Jabbok (not the southern side, as Thenius supposes); and judging from Gen 32:22. and Jdg 8:8., it was on the caravan road, which led through Gilead to Damascus, and thence past Palmyra and along the Euphrates to Mesopotamia. It was probably on account of its situation that Jeroboam fortified it, to defend his sovereignty over Gilead against hostile attacks from the north-east and east. Kg1 12:26-27 In order also to give internal strength to his kingdom, Jeroboam resolved to provide for his subjects a substitute for the sacrificial worship in the temple by establishing new sacra, and thus to take away all occasion for making festal journeys to Jerusalem, from which he apprehended, and that probably not without reason, a return of the people to the house of David and consequently further danger for his own life. "If this people go up to perform sacrifice in the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, their heart will turn to their lord, king Rehoboam," etc. Kg1 12:28-29 He therefore consulted, sc., with his counsellors, or the heads of the nation, who had helped him to the throne, and made two calves of gold. זהב עגלי are young oxen, not of pure gold however, or cast in brass and gilded, but in all probability like the golden calf which Aaron had cast for the people at Sinai, made of a kernel of wood, which was then covered with gold plate (see the Comm. on Exo 32:4). That Jeroboam had in his mind not merely the Egyptian Apis-worship generally, but more especially the image-worship which Aaron introduced for the people at Sinai, is evident from the words borrowed from Exo 32:4, with which he studiously endeavoured to recommend his new form of worship to the people: "Behold, this is thy God, O Israel, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." רב־לכם מעלות, it is too much for you to go to Jerusalem; not "let your going suffice," because מן is not to be taken in a partitive sense here, as it is in Exo 9:28 and Eze 44:6. What Jeroboam meant to say by the words, "Behold thy God," etc., was, "this is no new religion, but this was the form of worship which our fathers used in the desert, with Aaron himself leading the way" (Seb. Schmidt). And whilst the verbal allusion to that event at Sinai plainly shows that this worship was not actual idolatry, i.e., was not a worship of Egyptian idols, from which it is constantly distinguished in our books as well as in Hosea and Amos, but that Jehovah was worshipped under the image of the calves or young oxen; the choice of the places in which the golden calves were set up also shows that Jeroboam desired to adhere as closely as possible to ancient traditions. He did not select his own place of residence, but Bethel and Dan. Bethel, on the southern border of his kingdom, which properly belonged to the tribe of Benjamin (Jos 18:13 and Jos 18:22), the present Beitin, had already been consecrated as a divine seat by the vision of Jehovah which the patriarch Jacob received there in a dream (Gen 28:11, Gen 28:19), and Jacob gave it the name of Bethel, house of God, and afterwards built an altar there to the Lord (Gen 35:7). And Jeroboam may easily have fancied, and have tried to persuade others, that Jehovah would reveal Himself to the descendants of Jacob in this sacred place just as well as He had done to their forefather. - Dan, in the northern part of the kingdom, on the one source of the Jordan, formerly called Laish (Jdg 18:26.), was also consecrated as a place of worship by the image-worship established there by the Danites, at which even a grandson of Moses had officiated; and regard may also have been had to the convenience of the people, namely, that the tribes living in the north would not have to go a long distance to perform their worship. Kg1 12:30-31 But this institution became a sin to Jeroboam, because it violated the fundamental law of the Old Testament religion, since this not only prohibited all worship of Jehovah under images and symbols (Exo 20:4), but had not even left the choice of the place of worship to the people themselves (Deu 12:5.). "And the people went before the one to Dan." The expression "to Dan" can only be suitably explained by connecting it with העם: the people even to Dan, i.e., the people throughout the whole kingdom even to Dan. The southern boundary as the terminus a quo is not mentioned; not because it was for a long time in dispute, but because it was already given in the allusion to Bethel. האחד is neither the golden calf at Dan nor (as I formerly thought) that at Bethel, but is to be interpreted according to the receding את־האחד ואת־האחד: one of the two, or actually both the one and the other (Thenius). The sin of which Jeroboam was guilty consisted in the fact that he no longer allowed the people to go to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, but induced or compelled them to worship Jehovah before one or the other of the calves which he had set up, or _(as it is expressed in Kg1 12:31) made a house of high places, בּמות בּית (see at Kg1 3:2), instead of the house of God, which the Lord had sanctified as the place of worship by filling it with His gracious presence. The singular בּית ב may be accounted for from the antithesis to יהוה בּית, upon which it rests. There was no necessity to say expressly that there was a house of high places at Bethel and Dan, i.e., in two places, because it followed as a matter of course that the golden calves could not stand in the open air, but were placed in a temple, by which the sacrificial altar stood. These places of worship were houses of high places, Bamoth, because the ark of the covenant was wanting, and therewith the gracious presence of God, the Shechinah, for which no symbol invented by men could be a substitute. Moreover Jeroboam made "priests from the mass of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi." העם מקצות, i.e., not of the poorest of the people (Luther and others), but from the last of the people onwards, that is to say, from the whole of the people any one without distinction even to the very last, instead of the priests chosen by God out of the tribe of Levi. For this meaning of מקצות see Gen 19:4 and Eze 33:2, also Lud. de Dieu on this passage. This innovation on the part of Jeroboam appears very surprising, if we consider how the Ephraimite Micah (Jdg 17:10.) rejoiced that he had obtained a Levite to act as priest for his image-worship, and can only be explained from the fact that the Levites did not consent to act as priests in the worship before the golden calves, but set their faces against it, and therefore, as is stated in Ch2 11:13-14, were obliged to leave their district towns and possessions and emigrate into the kingdom of Judah. Kg1 12:32-33 Jeroboam also transferred to the eighth month the feast which ought to have been kept in the seventh month (the feast of tabernacles, Lev 23:34.). The pretext for this arbitrary alteration of the law, which repeatedly describes the seventh month as the month appointed by the Lord (Lev 23:34, Lev 23:39, Lev 23:41), he may have found in the fact that in the northern portion of the kingdom the corn ripened a month later than in the more southern Judah (see my Bibl. Archol. ii. 118, Anm. 3, and 119, Anm. 2), since this feast of the ingathering of the produce of the threshing-floor and wine-press (Exo 23:16; Lev 23:39; Deu 16:13) was a feast of thanksgiving for the gathering in of all the fruits of the ground. But the true reason was to be found in his intention to make the separation in a religious point of view as complete as possible, although Jeroboam retained the day of the month, the fifteenth, for the sake of the weak who took offence at his innovations. For we may see very clearly that many beside the Levites were very discontented with these illegal institutions, from the notice in Ch2 11:16, that out of all the tribes those who were devoted to the Lord from the heart went to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the God of the fathers there. "And he sacrificed upon the altar." This clause is connected with the preceding one, in the sense of: he instituted the feast and offered sacrifices thereat. In Kg1 12:32 (from עשׂה כּן onwards) and Kg1 12:33, what has already been related concerning Jeroboam's religious institutions is brought to a close by a comprehensive repetition of the leading points. "Thus did he in Bethel, (namely) to offer sacrifice to the calves; and there he appointed the priests of the high places which he had made, and offered sacrifice upon the altar which he had made at Bethel, on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, which he himself had devised, and so made a feast for the children of Israel and sacrificed upon the altar to turn." מלּבד signifies seorsum, by himself alone, i.e., in this connection, i.q. "from his own heart." The Keri מלּבּו is therefore a correct explanation as to the fact; but it is a needless correction from Neh 6:8. The last clause, להקטיר...ויּעל, leads on to what follows, and it would be more correct to take it in connection with Kg1 13:1 and render it thus: and when he was offering sacrifice upon the altar to burn, behold there came a man of God, etc. Thenius has rendered ויּעל incorrectly, and he stood at the altar. This thought would have been expressed by הם על ויּעמוד, as in Kg1 13:1. By הקטיר we are not to understand the burning or offering of incense, but the burning of the sacrificial portions of the flesh upon the altar, as in Lev 1:9, Lev 1:13, Lev 1:17, etc.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

Founding of the Kingdom of Israel. - Kg1 12:25. When Jeroboam had become king, it was his first care to give a firmer basis to his sovereignty by the fortification of Sichem and Pnuel. בּנח, to build, is used here in the sense of fortifying, because both cities had stood for a long time, and nothing is known of their having been destroyed under either Solomon or David, although the tower of Sichem had been burnt down by Abimelech (Jdg 9:49), and the tower of Pnuel had been destroyed by Gideon (Jdg 8:17). Sichem, a place well known from the time of Abraham downwards (Gen 12:6), was situated upon the mountains of Ephraim, between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and still exists under the name of Nabulus or Nabls, a name corrupted from Flavia Neapolis. Jeroboam dwelt therein, i.e., he chose it at first as his residence, though he afterwards resided in Thirza (see Kg1 14:17). Pnuel was situated, according to Gen 32:31, on the other side of the Jordan, on the northern bank of the Jabbok (not the southern side, as Thenius supposes); and judging from Gen 32:22. and Jdg 8:8., it was on the caravan road, which led through Gilead to Damascus, and thence past Palmyra and along the Euphrates to Mesopotamia. It was probably on account of its situation that Jeroboam fortified it, to defend his sovereignty over Gilead against hostile attacks from the north-east and east.

Kg1 12:26-27

In order also to give internal strength to his kingdom, Jeroboam resolved to provide for his subjects a substitute for the sacrificial worship in the temple by establishing new sacra, and thus to take away all occasion for making festal journeys to Jerusalem, from which he apprehended, and that probably not without reason, a return of the people to the house of David and consequently further danger for his own life. "If this people go up to perform sacrifice in the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, their heart will turn to their lord, king Rehoboam," etc.

Kg1 12:28-29

He therefore consulted, sc., with his counsellors, or the heads of the nation, who had helped him to the throne, and made two calves of gold. זהב עגלי are young oxen, not of pure gold however, or cast in brass and gilded, but in all probability like the golden calf which Aaron had cast for the people at Sinai, made of a kernel of wood, which was then covered with gold plate (see the Comm. on Exo 32:4). That Jeroboam had in his mind not merely the Egyptian Apis-worship generally, but more especially the image-worship which Aaron introduced for the people at Sinai, is evident from the words borrowed from Exo 32:4, with which he studiously endeavoured to recommend his new form of worship to the people: "Behold, this is thy God, O Israel, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." רב־לכם מעלות, it is too much for you to go to Jerusalem; not "let your going suffice," because מן is not to be taken in a partitive sense here, as it is in Exo 9:28 and Eze 44:6. What Jeroboam meant to say by the words, "Behold thy God," etc., was, "this is no new religion, but this was the form of worship which our fathers used in the desert, with Aaron himself leading the way" (Seb. Schmidt). And whilst the verbal allusion to that event at Sinai plainly shows that this worship was not actual idolatry, i.e., was not a worship of Egyptian idols, from which it is constantly distinguished in our books as well as in Hosea and Amos, but that Jehovah was worshipped under the image of the calves or young oxen; the choice of the places in which the golden calves were set up also shows that Jeroboam desired to adhere as closely as possible to ancient traditions. He did not select his own place of residence, but Bethel and Dan. Bethel, on the southern border of his kingdom, which properly belonged to the tribe of Benjamin (Jos 18:13 and Jos 18:22), the present Beitin, had already been consecrated as a divine seat by the vision of Jehovah which the patriarch Jacob received there in a dream (Gen 28:11, Gen 28:19), and Jacob gave it the name of Bethel, house of God, and afterwards built an altar there to the Lord (Gen 35:7). And Jeroboam may easily have fancied, and have tried to persuade others, that Jehovah would reveal Himself to the descendants of Jacob in this sacred place just as well as He had done to their forefather. - Dan, in the northern part of the kingdom, on the one source of the Jordan, formerly called Laish (Jdg 18:26.), was also consecrated as a place of worship by the image-worship established there by the Danites, at which even a grandson of Moses had officiated; and regard may also have been had to the convenience of the people, namely, that the tribes living in the north would not have to go a long distance to perform their worship.

Kg1 12:30-31

But this institution became a sin to Jeroboam, because it violated the fundamental law of the Old Testament religion, since this not only prohibited all worship of Jehovah under images and symbols (Exo 20:4), but had not even left the choice of the place of worship to the people themselves (Deu 12:5.). "And the people went before the one to Dan." The expression "to Dan" can only be suitably explained by connecting it with העם: the people even to Dan, i.e., the people throughout the whole kingdom even to Dan. The southern boundary as the terminus a quo is not mentioned; not because it was for a long time in dispute, but because it was already given in the allusion to Bethel. האחד is neither the golden calf at Dan nor (as I formerly thought) that at Bethel, but is to be interpreted according to the receding את־האחד ואת־האחד: one of the two, or actually both the one and the other (Thenius). The sin of which Jeroboam was guilty consisted in the fact that he no longer allowed the people to go to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, but induced or compelled them to worship Jehovah before one or the other of the calves which he had set up, or _(as it is expressed in Kg1 12:31) made a house of high places, בּמות בּית (see at Kg1 3:2), instead of the house of God, which the Lord had sanctified as the place of worship by filling it with His gracious presence. The singular בּית ב may be accounted for from the antithesis to יהוה בּית, upon which it rests. There was no necessity to say expressly that there was a house of high places at Bethel and Dan, i.e., in two places, because it followed as a matter of course that the golden calves could not stand in the open air, but were placed in a temple, by which the sacrificial altar stood. These places of worship were houses of high places, Bamoth, because the ark of the covenant was wanting, and therewith the gracious presence of God, the Shechinah, for which no symbol invented by men could be a substitute. Moreover Jeroboam made "priests from the mass of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi." העם מקצות, i.e., not of the poorest of the people (Luther and others), but from the last of the people onwards, that is to say, from the whole of the people any one without distinction even to the very last, instead of the priests chosen by God out of the tribe of Levi. For this meaning of מקצות see Gen 19:4 and Eze 33:2, also Lud. de Dieu on this passage. This innovation on the part of Jeroboam appears very surprising, if we consider how the Ephraimite Micah (Jdg 17:10.) rejoiced that he had obtained a Levite to act as priest for his image-worship, and can only be explained from the fact that the Levites did not consent to act as priests in the worship before the golden calves, but set their faces against it, and therefore, as is stated in Ch2 11:13-14, were obliged to leave their district towns and possessions and emigrate into the kingdom of Judah.

Kg1 12:32-33

Jeroboam also transferred to the eighth month the feast which ought to have been kept in the seventh month (the feast of tabernacles, Lev 23:34.). The pretext for this arbitrary alteration of the law, which repeatedly describes the seventh month as the month appointed by the Lord (Lev 23:34, Lev 23:39, Lev 23:41), he may have found in the fact that in the northern portion of the kingdom the corn ripened a month later than in the more southern Judah (see my Bibl. Archol. ii. 118, Anm. 3, and 119, Anm. 2), since this feast of the ingathering of the produce of the threshing-floor and wine-press (Exo 23:16; Lev 23:39; Deu 16:13) was a feast of thanksgiving for the gathering in of all the fruits of the ground. But the true reason was to be found in his intention to make the separation in a religious point of view as complete as possible, although Jeroboam retained the day of the month, the fifteenth, for the sake of the weak who took offence at his innovations. For we may see very clearly that many beside the Levites were very discontented with these illegal institutions, from the notice in Ch2 11:16, that out of all the tribes those who were devoted to the Lord from the heart went to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the God of the fathers there. "And he sacrificed upon the altar." This clause is connected with the preceding one, in the sense of: he instituted the feast and offered sacrifices thereat. In Kg1 12:32 (from עשׂה כּן onwards) and Kg1 12:33, what has already been related concerning Jeroboam's religious institutions is brought to a close by a comprehensive repetition of the leading points. "Thus did he in Bethel, (namely) to offer sacrifice to the calves; and there he appointed the priests of the high places which he had made, and offered sacrifice upon the altar which he had made at Bethel, on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, which he himself had devised, and so made a feast for the children of Israel and sacrificed upon the altar to turn." מלּבד signifies seorsum, by himself alone, i.e., in this connection, i.q. "from his own heart." The Keri מלּבּו is therefore a correct explanation as to the fact; but it is a needless correction from Neh 6:8. The last clause, להקטיר...ויּעל, leads on to what follows, and it would be more correct to take it in connection with Kg1 13:1 and render it thus: and when he was offering sacrifice upon the altar to burn, behold there came a man of God, etc. Thenius has rendered ויּעל incorrectly, and he stood at the altar. This thought would have been expressed by הם על ויּעמוד, as in Kg1 13:1. By הקטיר we are not to understand the burning or offering of incense, but the burning of the sacrificial portions of the flesh upon the altar, as in Lev 1:9, Lev 1:13, Lev 1:17, etc.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Shechem - He repaired, and enlarged, and fortified it; for it had been ruined long since, Jdg 9:45. He might chuse it as a place both auspicious, because here the foundation of his monarchy was laid; and commodious, as being near the frontiers of his kingdom. Penuel - A place beyond Jordan; to secure that part of his dominions.

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⁹ And he spake [0559] also unto the men [0582] of Penuel [06439], saying [0559], When I come again [07725] in peace [07965], I will break down [05422] this tower [04026].

³⁰ The king [04430] spake [06032], and said [0560], Is not [03809] this [01932] [01668] great [07229] Babylon [0895], that I [0576] have built [01124] for the house [01005] of the kingdom [04437] by the might [08632] of my power [02632], and for the honour [03367] of my majesty [01923]?

¹⁷ And he shall cleave [08156] it with the wings [03671] thereof, but shall not divide it asunder [0914]: and the priest [03548] shall burn [06999] it upon the altar [04196], upon the wood [06086] that is upon the fire [0784]: it is a burnt sacrifice [05930], an offering made by fire [0801], of a sweet [05207] savour [07381] unto the LORD [03068].

¹³ But he shall wash [07364] the inwards [07130] and the legs [03767] with water [04325]: and the priest [03548] shall bring [07126] it all, and burn [06999] it upon the altar [04196]: it is a burnt sacrifice [05930], an offering made by fire [0801], of a sweet [05207] savour [07381] unto the LORD [03068].

⁹ But his inwards [07130] and his legs [03767] shall he wash [07364] in water [04325]: and the priest [03548] shall burn [06999] all on the altar [04196], to be a burnt sacrifice [05930], an offering made by fire [0801], of a sweet [05207] savour [07381] unto the LORD [03068].

¹ And, behold, there came [0935] a man [0376] of God [0430] out of Judah [03063] by the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] unto Bethel [01008]: and Jeroboam [03379] stood [05975] by the altar [04196] to burn incense [06999].

⁸ Then I sent [07971] unto him, saying [0559], There are [01961] no such things [01697] done [01961] as thou sayest [0559], but thou feignest [0908] them out of thine own heart [03820].

³³ So he offered [05927] upon the altar [04196] which he had made [06213] in Bethel [01008] the fifteenth [02568] [06240] day [03117] of the eighth [08066] month [02320], even in the month [02320] which he had devised [0908] of his own heart [03820]; and ordained [06213] a feast [02282] unto the children [01121] of Israel [03478]: and he offered [05927] upon the altar [04196], and burnt incense [06999].

¹⁶ And after [0310] them out of all the tribes [07626] of Israel [03478] such as set [05414] their hearts [03824] to seek [01245] the LORD [03068] God [0430] of Israel [03478] came [0935] to Jerusalem [03389], to sacrifice [02076] unto the LORD [03068] God [0430] of their fathers [01].

¹³ Thou shalt observe [06213] the feast [02282] of tabernacles [05521] seven [07651] days [03117], after that thou hast gathered [0622] in thy corn [01637] and thy wine [03342]:

³⁹ Also in the fifteenth [02568] [06240] day [03117] of the seventh [07637] month [02320], when ye have gathered [0622] in the fruit [08393] of the land [0776], ye shall keep [02287] a feast [02282] unto the LORD [03068] seven [07651] days [03117]: on the first [07223] day [03117] shall be a sabbath [07677], and on the eighth [08066] day [03117] shall be a sabbath [07677].

¹⁶ And the feast [02282] of harvest [07105], the firstfruits [01061] of thy labours [04639], which thou hast sown [02232] in the field [07704]: and the feast [02282] of ingathering [0614], which is in the end [03318] of the year [08141], when thou hast gathered [0622] in thy labours [04639] out of the field [07704].

⁴¹ And ye shall keep [02287] it a feast [02282] unto the LORD [03068] seven [07651] days [03117] in the year [08141]. It shall be a statute [02708] for ever [05769] in your generations [01755]: ye shall celebrate [02287] it in the seventh [07637] month [02320].

³⁴ Speak [01696] unto the children [01121] of Israel [03478], saying [0559], The fifteenth [02568] [06240] day [03117] of this seventh [07637] month [02320] shall be the feast [02282] of tabernacles [05521] for seven [07651] days [03117] unto the LORD [03068].

³² And Jeroboam [03379] ordained [06213] a feast [02282] in the eighth [08066] month [02320], on the fifteenth [02568] [06240] day [03117] of the month [02320], like unto the feast [02282] that is in Judah [03063], and he offered [05927] upon the altar [04196]. So did [06213] he in Bethel [01008], sacrificing [02076] unto the calves [05695] that he had made [06213]: and he placed [05975] in Bethel [01008] the priests [03548] of the high places [01116] which he had made [06213].
³³ So he offered [05927] upon the altar [04196] which he had made [06213] in Bethel [01008] the fifteenth [02568] [06240] day [03117] of the eighth [08066] month [02320], even in the month [02320] which he had devised [0908] of his own heart [03820]; and ordained [06213] a feast [02282] unto the children [01121] of Israel [03478]: and he offered [05927] upon the altar [04196], and burnt incense [06999].

¹³ And the priests [03548] and the Levites [03881] that were in all Israel [03478] resorted [03320] to him out of all their coasts [01366].
¹⁴ For the Levites [03881] left [05800] their suburbs [04054] and their possession [0272], and came [03212] to Judah [03063] and Jerusalem [03389]: for Jeroboam [03379] and his sons [01121] had cast them off [02186] from executing the priest's office [03547] unto the LORD [03068]:

¹⁰ And Micah [04318] said [0559] unto him, Dwell [03427] with me, and be unto me a father [01] and a priest [03548], and I will give [05414] thee ten [06235] shekels of silver [03701] by the year [03117], and a suit [06187] of apparel [0899], and thy victuals [04241]. So the Levite [03881] went in [03212].

² Son [01121] of man [0120], speak [01696] to the children [01121] of thy people [05971], and say [0559] unto them, When I bring [0935] the sword [02719] upon a land [0776], if the people [05971] of the land [0776] take [03947] a [0259] man [0376] of their coasts [07097], and set [05414] him for their watchman [06822]:

⁴ But before they lay down [07901], the men [0582] of the city [05892], even the men [0582] of Sodom [05467], compassed [05437] the house [01004] round [05437], both old [02205] and young [05288], all the people [05971] from every quarter [07097]:

² Only the people [05971] sacrificed [02076] in high places [01116], because there was no house [01004] built [01129] unto the name [08034] of the LORD [03068], until those days [03117].

³¹ And he made [06213] an house [01004] of high places [01116], and made [06213] priests [03548] of the lowest [07098] of the people [05971], which were not of the sons [01121] of Levi [03878].

⁵ But unto the place [04725] which the LORD [03068] your God [0430] shall choose [0977] out of all your tribes [07626] to put [07760] his name [08034] there, even unto his habitation [07933] shall ye seek [01875], and thither thou shalt come [0935]:

⁴ Thou shalt not make [06213] unto thee any graven image [06459], or any likeness [08544] of any thing that [0834] is in heaven [08064] above [04605], or that is in the earth [0776] beneath, or that is in the water [04325] under the earth [0776]:

³⁰ And this thing [01697] became a sin [02403]: for the people [05971] went [03212] to worship before [06440] the one [0259], even unto Dan [01835].
³¹ And he made [06213] an house [01004] of high places [01116], and made [06213] priests [03548] of the lowest [07098] of the people [05971], which were not of the sons [01121] of Levi [03878].

²⁶ And the children [01121] of Dan [01835] went [03212] their way [01870]: and when Micah [04318] saw [07200] that they were too strong [02389] for him, he turned [06437] and went back [07725] unto his house [01004].

⁷ And he built [01129] there an altar [04196], and called [07121] the place [04725] Elbethel [0416]: because there God [0430] appeared [01540] unto him, when he fled [01272] from the face [06440] of his brother [0251].

¹⁹ And he called [07121] the name [08034] of that place [04725] Bethel [01008]: but [0199] the name [08034] of that city [05892] was called Luz [03870] at the first [07223].

¹¹ And he lighted [06293] upon a certain place [04725], and tarried there all night [03885], because the sun [08121] was set [0935]; and he took [03947] of the stones [068] of that place [04725], and put [07760] them for his pillows [04763], and lay down [07901] in that place [04725] to sleep [07901].

²² And Betharabah [01026], and Zemaraim [06787], and Bethel [01008],

¹³ And the border [01366] went over [05674] from thence toward Luz [03870], to the side [03802] of Luz [03870], which is Bethel [01008], southward [05045]; and the border [01366] descended [03381] to Atarothadar [05853], near the hill [02022] that lieth on the south side [05045] of the nether [08481] Bethhoron [01032].

⁶ And thou shalt say [0559] to the rebellious [04805], even to the house [01004] of Israel [03478], Thus saith [0559] the Lord [0136] GOD [03069]; O ye house [01004] of Israel [03478], let it suffice [07227] you of all your abominations [08441],

²⁸ Intreat [06279] the LORD [03068] (for it is enough [07227]) that there be no more mighty [0430] thunderings [06963] and hail [01259]; and I will let you go [07971], and ye shall stay [05975] no longer [03254].

⁴ And he received [03947] them at their hand [03027], and fashioned [06696] it with a graving tool [02747], after he had made [06213] it a molten [04541] calf [05695]: and they said [0559], These be thy gods [0430], O Israel [03478], which brought [05927] thee up out of the land [0776] of Egypt [04714].

²⁸ Whereupon the king [04428] took counsel [03289], and made [06213] two [08147] calves [05695] of gold [02091], and said [0559] unto them, It is too much [07227] for you to go up [05927] to Jerusalem [03389]: behold thy gods [0430], O Israel [03478], which brought thee up [05927] out of the land [0776] of Egypt [04714].
²⁹ And he set [07760] the one [0259] in Bethel [01008], and the other [0259] put [05414] he in Dan [01835].

²⁶ And Jeroboam [03379] said [0559] in his heart [03820], Now shall the kingdom [04467] return [07725] to the house [01004] of David [01732]:
²⁷ If this people [05971] go up [05927] to do [06213] sacrifice [02077] in the house [01004] of the LORD [03068] at Jerusalem [03389], then shall the heart [03820] of this people [05971] turn again [07725] unto their lord [0113], even unto Rehoboam [07346] king [04428] of Judah [03063], and they shall kill [02026] me, and go again [07725] to Rehoboam [07346] king [04428] of Judah [03063].

⁸ And he went up [05927] thence to Penuel [06439], and spake [01696] unto them likewise [02063]: and the men [0582] of Penuel [06439] answered [06030] him as the men [0582] of Succoth [05523] had answered [06030] him.

²² And he rose up [06965] that night [03915], and took [03947] his two [08147] wives [0802], and his two [08147] womenservants [08198], and his eleven [06240] [0259] sons [03206], and passed over [05674] the ford [04569] Jabbok [02999].

³¹ And as he passed over [05674] Penuel [06439] the sun [08121] rose [02224] upon him, and he halted [06760] upon his thigh [03409].

¹⁷ And Jeroboam's [03379] wife [0802] arose [06965], and departed [03212], and came [0935] to Tirzah [08656]: and when she came [0935] to the threshold [05592] of the door [01004], the child [05288] died [04191];

⁶ And Abram [087] passed through [05674] the land [0776] unto the place [04725] of Sichem [07927], unto the plain [0436] of Moreh [04176]. And the Canaanite [03669] was then [0227] in the land [0776].

¹⁷ And he beat down [05422] the tower [04026] of Penuel [06439], and slew [02026] the men [0582] of the city [05892].

⁴⁹ And all the people [05971] likewise cut down [03772] every man [0376] his bough [07754], and followed [03212] [0310] Abimelech [040], and put [07760] them to the hold [06877], and set [03341] the hold [06877] on fire [0784] upon them; so that all the men [0582] of the tower [04026] of Shechem [07927] died [04191] also, about a thousand [0505] men [0376] and women [0802].

²⁵ Then Jeroboam [03379] built [01129] Shechem [07927] in mount [02022] Ephraim [0669], and dwelt [03427] therein; and went out [03318] from thence, and built [01129] Penuel [06439].

⁴⁵ And Abimelech [040] fought [03898] against the city [05892] all that day [03117]; and he took [03920] the city [05892], and slew [02026] the people [05971] that was therein, and beat down [05422] the city [05892], and sowed [02232] it with salt [04417].