4 Then he took the gold from them, and he formed it with an engraving tool and made it into a statue* of a calf.+ They began to say: “This is your God, O Israel, who led you up out of the land of Egypt.”+

8 They have quickly deviated from the way I commanded them to go.+ They have made for themselves a statue* of a calf, and they keep bowing down to it and sacrificing to it and saying, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who led you up out of the land of Egypt.’”

15 Jer·o·boʹam then appointed his own priests for the high places+ and for the goatlike demons*+ and for the calves that he had made.+ 16 And those from all the tribes of Israel who had their heart set on seeking Jehovah the God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Jehovah the God of their forefathers.+