Adonijah feared Solomon, so he got up and went and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">On the fifteenth day of the eighth month (a date he had arbitrarily chosen)<n id="1" /> Jeroboam<n id="2" /> offered sacrifices on the altar he had made in Bethel.<n id="3" /> He inaugurated a festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to offer sacrifices.

When the king heard what the prophet<n id="1" /> cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam, standing at the altar, extended his hand<n id="2" /> and ordered,<n id="3" /> &#8220;Seize him!&#8221; The hand he had extended shriveled up<n id="4" /> and he could not pull it back.

King Solomon sent men to bring him down<n id="1" /> from the altar. He came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon told him, &#8220;Go home.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for it had the most prominent of the high places.<n id="1" /> Solomon would offer up<n id="2" /> a thousand burnt sacrifices on the altar there.

He plated the entire inside of the temple with gold, as well as the altar inside the inner sanctuary.<n id="1" />p>

Just then<n id="1" /> a prophet<n id="2" /> from Judah, sent by the <sc>Lordsc>, arrived in Bethel,<n id="3" /> as Jeroboam was standing near the altar ready to offer a sacrifice.

That day he also announced<n id="1" /> a sign, &#8220;This is the sign the <sc>Lordsc> has predetermined:<n id="2" /> The altar will be split open and the ashes<n id="3" /> on it will fall to the ground.&#8221;<n id="4" />

The altar split open and the ashes<n id="1" /> fell from the altar to the ground,<n id="2" /> in fulfillment of the sign the prophet had announced with the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s authority.<n id="3" />

Solomon was told, &#8220;Look, Adonijah fears you;<n id="1" /> see, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, &#8216;May King Solomon solemnly promise<n id="2" /> me today that he will not kill his servant with the sword.&#8217;&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">When the news reached Joab (for Joab had supported<n id="1" /> Adonijah, although he had not supported Absalom), he<n id="2" /> ran to the tent of the <sc>Lordsc> and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar.<n id="3" />

When King Solomon heard<n id="1" /> that Joab had run to the tent of the <sc>Lordsc> and was right there beside the altar, he ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada,<n id="2" /> &#8220;Go, strike him down.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings<n id="1" /> on the altar he had built for the <sc>Lordsc>, burning incense along with them before the <sc>Lordsc>. He made the temple his official worship place.<n id="2" />p>

With the authority of the <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> he cried out against the altar, &#8220;O altar, altar! This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;Look, a son named Josiah will be born to the Davidic dynasty. He will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer sacrifices on you. Human bones will be burned on you.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />

for the prophecy he announced with the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s authority<n id="1" /> against the altar in Bethel<n id="2" /> and against all the temples on the high places in the cities of the north<n id="3" /> will certainly be fulfilled.&#8221;p>

So they took a bull, as he had suggested,<n id="1" /> and prepared it. They invoked the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, &#8220;Baal, answer us.&#8221; But there was no sound and no answer. They jumped<n id="2" /> around on the altar they had made.<n id="3" />

Jeroboam inaugurated a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month,<n id="1" /> like the festival celebrated in Judah.<n id="2" /> On the altar in Bethel he offered sacrifices to the calves he had made.<n id="3" /> In Bethel he also appointed priests for the high places he had made.p>