1 Kings 12:26-33 - Jeroboam Builds Golden Calves

²⁶ And Jeroboam thought in his heart, "Now might the kingdom return to the house of David again. ²⁷ For if this people shall go up and do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall their hearts turn again unto their lord Rehoboam king of Judah. And so shall they kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah." ²⁸ Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto the people, "Ye shall not need to go any more to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, Israel, which brought you out of the land of Egypt!" ²⁹ And he put the one in Bethel and the other in Dan. ³⁰ And that doing was a cause of sin. And the people went before the one as far as Dan.

³¹ And he made houses of hill altars, and made, of the lowest of the people, priests which were not of the sons of Levi. ³² And Jeroboam made a feast the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like unto the feast that was in Judah, and offered on the altar. And so did he in Bethel, to offer unto the calves that he had made. And he put in Bethel the priests of the hill altars, which he had made. ³³ And he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel, the fifteenth day of the eighth month, which he had imagined of his own heart: and made a solemn feast unto the children of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn sacrifice.