12:33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month (a date he had arbitrarily chosen) 5 Jeroboam 6 offered sacrifices on the altar he had made in Bethel. 7 He inaugurated a festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to offer sacrifices.
13:33 After this happened, Jeroboam still did not change his evil ways; 8 he continued to appoint common people 9 as priests at the high places. Anyone who wanted the job he consecrated as a priest. 10 13:34 This sin caused Jeroboam’s dynasty 11 to come to an end and to be destroyed from the face of the earth.
4:15 Although you, O Israel, commit adultery,
do not let Judah become guilty!
Do not journey to Gilgal!
Do not go up to Beth Aven! 24
Do not swear, “As surely as the Lord lives!”
1 tn The words “with his advisers” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
2 tn Heb “to them,” although this may be a corruption of “to the people.” Cf. the Old Greek translation.
3 tn Heb “and this thing became a sin.”
4 tc The MT reads “and the people went before the one to Dan.” It is likely that some words have been accidentally omitted and that the text originally said, “and the people went before the one at Bethel and before the one at Dan.”
5 tn Heb “which he had chosen by himself.”
6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jeroboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
8 tn Heb “did not turn from his evil way.”
9 sn The expression common people refers to people who were not Levites. See 1 Kgs 12:31.
10 tn Heb “and one who had the desire he was filling his hand so that he became [one of] the priests of the high places.”
11 tn Heb “house.”
12 tn Heb “and he went and served Baal and bowed down to him.”
13 tn Heb “Ahab”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
14 tn The Hebrew text has “because” at the beginning of the sentence. In the Hebrew text vv. 2-3 are one sentence comprised of a causal clause giving the reason for divine punishment (v. 2) and the main clause announcing the punishment (v. 3). The translation divides this sentence for stylistic reasons.
15 tn Heb “walked in the way of Jeroboam.”
16 tn Heb “angering me by their sins.”
17 tn Heb “Because it was with your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was with your heart.”
18 tn Or “I said to her, ‘Come back to me!’” The verb אָמַר (’amar) usually means “to say,” but here it means “to think,” of an assumption that turns out to be wrong (so HALOT 66.4 s.v. אמר); cf. Gen 44:28; Jer 3:19; Pss 82:6; 139:11; Job 29:18; Ruth 4:4; Lam 3:18.
19 tn The words “what she did” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarification.
20 tc Heb “she [‘her sister, unfaithful Judah’ from the preceding verse] saw” with one Hebrew
21 tn Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.
22 tn The words “Even after her unfaithful sister, Judah, had seen this” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied for clarification.
23 tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.
24 sn Beth Aven means “house of wickedness” in Hebrew; it is a polemic reference to “Bethel,” which means “house of God.” Cf. CEV “at sinful Bethel.”