21. On his arrival in Jerusalem, Rehoboam assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—one hundred and eighty thousand elite warriors—to wage war against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, son of Solomon.
22. However, the word of God came to Shemaiah, a man of God:
23. Say to Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and to Benjamin, and to the rest of the people:
24. Thus says the Lord: You must not go out to war against your fellow Israelites. Return home, each of you, for it is I who have brought this about. They obeyed the word of the Lord and turned back, according to the word of the Lord.
25. Jeroboam built up Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. Then he left it and built up Penuel.
26. Jeroboam thought to himself: “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.
27. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, the hearts of this people will return to their master, Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah.”
28. The king took counsel, made two calves of gold, and said to the people: “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
29. And he put one in Bethel, the other in Dan.
30. This led to sin, because the people frequented these calves in Bethel and in Dan.
31. He also built temples on the high places and made priests from among the common people who were not Levites.