24. ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not to march up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you must return home, for I have done this.’ ” So they listened to what the Lord said and went back as He had told them.
25. Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built Penuel.
26. Jeroboam said to himself, “The way things are going now, the kingdom might return to the house of David.
27. If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, 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 who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
29. He set up one in Bethel, and put the other in Dan.