Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, August 26th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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Read the Bible

New Century Version

1 Kings 12:30

This became a very great sin, because the people traveled as far as Dan to worship the calf there.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Beth-El;   Calf;   Church and State;   Jeroboam;   Religion;   Rulers;   Statecraft;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Calves of Jeroboam;   Idolatry;   Offence;   Rebellion against God;   Sins, National;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Rehoboam;   Shechem;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Bethel;   Dan;   Israel;   Jeroboam;   Jerusalem;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Ethics;   King, Kingship;   Kings, First and Second, Theology of;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Bethel;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Aholah;   Old Testament;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Bethel;   Golden Calf;   High Place;   Idol;   Jeroboam;   Transportation and Travel;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Aaron;   Calf, Golden;   Israel;   Rehoboam,;   Solomon;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Bethel ;   Calf, Golden;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Beth-aven;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Calf;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Idolatry,;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Jeroboam;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Israel;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Altar;   Apostasy;   Calf, Golden;   Jeroboam;   Temple;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Bethel;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
This led to sin; the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan.
Hebrew Names Version
This thing became a sin; for the people went [to worship] before the one, even to Dan.
King James Version
And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
English Standard Version
Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.
New English Translation
This caused Israel to sin; the people went to Bethel and Dan to worship the calves.
Amplified Bible
Now this thing became a sin [for Israel]; because the people went to worship before the one [or the other of them] as far as Dan.
New American Standard Bible
Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And this thing turned to sinne: for the people went (because of the one) euen to Dan.
Legacy Standard Bible
Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.
Complete Jewish Bible
and the affair became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one [in Beit-El and] all the way to Dan [to worship the other].
Darby Translation
And this thing became a sin; and the people went [to worship] before the one, as far as Dan.
Easy-to-Read Version
What a terrible sin this was, because the Israelites started going to the cities of Dan and Bethel to worship the calves.
George Lamsa Translation
And this thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
Good News Translation
And so the people sinned, going to worship in Bethel and in Dan.
Lexham English Bible
This thing became a sin, and the people walked before the one as far as Dan.
Literal Translation
And this thing became a sin, for the people went before the one, to Dan.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And this dede turned to synne, for the people wente before the one vnto Dan.
American Standard Version
And this thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
Bible in Basic English
And this became a sin in Israel; for the people went to give worship to the one at Beth-el, and to the other at Dan.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And this thing turned to sinne: for the people went (because of the one) as farre as Dan.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And this thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
King James Version (1611)
And this thing became a sinne: for the people went to worship before the one, euen vnto Dan.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And this thing became a sin; and the people went before one as far as Dan, and left the house of the Lord.
English Revised Version
And this thing became a sin: for the people went [to worship] before the one, even unto Dan.
Berean Standard Bible
And this thing became a sin; the people walked as far as Dan to worship before one of the calves.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And this word was maad to Israel in to synne; for the puple yede til in to Dan, to worschipe the calf.
Young's Literal Translation
and this thing becometh a sin, and the people go before the one -- unto Dan.
Update Bible Version
And this thing became a sin; for the people went [to worship] before the one, even to Dan.
Webster's Bible Translation
And this thing became a sin: for the people went [to worship] before the one, [even] to Dan.
World English Bible
This thing became a sin; for the people went [to worship] before the one, even to Dan.
New King James Version
Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.
New Living Translation
But this became a great sin, for the people worshiped the idols, traveling as far north as Dan to worship the one there.
New Life Bible
Now this thing became a sin. For the people went to worship in front of them, even as far as Dan.
New Revised Standard
And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one at Bethel and before the other as far as Dan.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And this thing became a sin, - and the people went before the one, as far as Dan.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And this thing became an occasion of sin: for the people went to adore the calf as far as Dan.
Revised Standard Version
And this thing became a sin, for the people went to the one at Bethel and to the other as far as Dan.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.

Contextual Overview

25 Then Jeroboam made Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim a very strong city, and he lived there. He also went to the city of Peniel and made it stronger. 26 Jeroboam said to himself, "The kingdom will probably go back to David's family. 27 If the people continue going to the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, they will want to be ruled again by Rehoboam. Then they will kill me and follow Rehoboam king of Judah." 28 King Jeroboam asked for advice. Then he made two golden calves. "It is too long a journey for you to go to Jerusalem to worship," he said to the people. "Israel, here are your gods who brought you out of Egypt." 29 Jeroboam put one golden calf in the city of Bethel and the other in the city of Dan. 30 This became a very great sin, because the people traveled as far as Dan to worship the calf there. 31 Jeroboam built temples on the places of worship. He also chose priests from all the people, not just from the tribe of Levi. 32 And he started a new festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, just like the festival in Judah. During that time the king offered sacrifices on the altar, along with sacrifices to the calves in Bethel he had made. He also chose priests in Bethel to serve at the places of worship he had made. 33 So Jeroboam chose his own time for a festival for the Israelites—the fifteenth day of the eighth month. During that time he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built in Bethel. He set up a festival for the Israelites and offered sacrifices on the altar.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

became a sin: 1 Kings 13:34, 2 Kings 10:31, 2 Kings 17:21

Reciprocal: Judges 18:29 - Dan 1 Kings 14:16 - who did sin 2 Chronicles 17:4 - not after Acts 4:19 - to hearken

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And this thing became a sin,.... The cause and occasion of the sin of idolatry; it led them by degrees to leave off the worship of God, and to worship these calves as gods:

for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan; which was the furthest off, such was their great zeal for idolatrous worship; or they went thither before that at Bethel was set up; and even they at Bethel would go as far as Dan to worship, such was their veneration for both the calves. Abarbinel is of opinion that these calves were not made by Jeroboam for idolatrous uses, only the altar later mentioned; and that he never worshipped before them, nor sacrificed to them, nor even built the altar before them; but that these were set up as signs, and in memory of his kingdom, like the pillars in Solomon's temple; that he chose the calf or ox as emblems of his family, the family of Joseph, Deuteronomy 33:17 two to represent Ephraim and Manasseh; golden ones, to denote the majesty and perpetuity of his kingdom; and he set these, the one at Bethel, at the entrance of it, and the other at Dan, at the further borders of it; and that he did not call those gods, but the only true God, as he that brought Israel out of Egypt; only signified by that expression, that he was everywhere, there as well as at Jerusalem; but that the Israelites, who were taken with sensible objects, on visiting these out of curiosity, it became a snare to them, and they fell into the worship of them; just as Gideon's ephod, and Moses' brasen serpent, were unto them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This thing became a sin - i. e., this act of Jeroboam’s became an occasion of sin to the people. The author perhaps wrote the following words thus: “The people went to worship before the one to Bethel and before the other to Dan.”


 
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