²⁸ So after taking thought the king made two oxen of gold; and he said to the people, You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough; see! these are your gods, O Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ And turning their backs on all the orders which the Lord had given them, they made for themselves images of metal, and the image of Asherah, worshipping all the stars of heaven and becoming servants to Baal.

²⁹ But Jehu did not keep himself from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and the evil he made Israel do; the gold oxen were still in Beth-el and in Dan.

⁸ Even now they are turned away from the rule I gave them, and have made themselves a metal ox and given worship to it and offerings, saying, This is your god, O Israel, who took you up out of the land of Egypt.

⁴ And he took the gold from them and, hammering it with an instrument, he made it into the metal image of a young ox: and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt.

⁴ They have put up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, but I had no knowledge of it; they have made images of silver and gold, so that they may be cut off.

⁵ I will have nothing to do with your young ox, O Samaria; my wrath is burning against them; how long will it be before the children of Israel make themselves clean?

⁶ The workman made it, it is no god; the ox of Samaria will be broken into bits.

⁷ For they have been planting the wind, and their fruit will be the storm; his grain has no stem, it will give no meal, and if it does, a strange nation will take it.

¹⁵ And he himself made priests for the high places, and for the images of he-goats and oxen which he had made.

¹⁹ Saying that they will be free, while they themselves are the servants of destruction; because whatever gets the better of a man makes a servant of him.

⁵ The people of Samaria will be full of fear because of the ox of Beth-aven; its people will have sorrow for it, and its priests will give cries of grief for its glory, for the glory has gone in flight.

⁶ And they will take it to Assyria and give it to the great king; shame will come on Ephraim, and Israel will be shamed because of its image.

¹⁰ Who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Do not give us word of what is true, but say false things to give us pleasure:

¹ Ho! uncontrolled children, says the Lord, who give effect to a purpose which is not mine, and who make an agreement, but not by my spirit, increasing their sin:

⁸ But he gave no attention to the opinion of the old men, and went to the young men of his generation who were waiting before him:

⁹ And said to them, What is your opinion? What answer are we to give to this people who have said to me, Make less the weight of the yoke which your father put on us?

¹⁴ And the Lord gave me orders at that time to make clear to you these laws and decisions, so that you might do them in the land to which you are going, and which is to be your heritage.

¹⁵ So keep watch on yourselves with care; for you saw no form of any sort on the day when the voice of the Lord came to you in Horeb out of the heart of the fire:

¹⁶ So that you may not be turned to evil ways and make for yourselves an image in the form of any living thing, male or female,

¹⁷ Or any beast of the earth, or winged bird of the air,

¹⁸ Or of anything which goes flat on the earth, or any fish in the water under the earth.

⁴ You are not to make an image or picture of anything in heaven or on the earth or in the waters under the earth:

¹⁰ Let us take care for fear that their numbers may become even greater, and if there is a war, they may be joined with those who are against us, and make an attack on us, and go up out of the land.