1 Kings 12:30

And this thing became a sin; the people walked as far as Dan to worship before one of the calves.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The narrator describes Jeroboam’s placement of golden calf shrines at Bethel and Dan immediately following the northern tribes’ secession from the house of David. This moment captures the institutionalization of state-directed idolatry at the kingdom’s founding.

The words — לְ/חַטָּ֑את (le./cha.Tat) literally means “into sin,” and הָ/אֶחָ֖ד (ha./'e.Chad) denotes “the one” calf. The text uses these terms to show how a political compromise rapidly solidifies into religious corruption.

The thread — This pattern recurs in 1 Kings 13:34, which names Jeroboam’s calf worship as the sin that brings his house to destruction, and 2 Kings 17:21, which traces Israel’s subsequent exile back to Jeroboam’s initial leadership away from the LORD.

Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that religious compromise, once normalized by leadership, becomes an entrenched national sin that destroys covenant fidelity. It asks the reader to identify where institutional shortcuts harden into unrepentant practice.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וַיְהִ֛יva/y.Hiand/ it became הַדָּבָ֥רha./da.Varthe/ thing הַזֶּ֖הha./Zeh<the>/ this לְחַטָּ֑אתle./cha.Tat<into>/ sin וַיֵּלְכ֥וּva/i.ye.le.Khuand/ they went הָעָ֛םha./'Amthe/ people לִפְנֵ֥יli/f.Nei<to>/ before הָאֶחָ֖דha./'e.Chadthe/ one [calf]עַד־'ad-to דָּֽן׃DanDan

King James Version

And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.

Cross-references

2 Kings 17:21 When the LORD had torn Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king, and Jeroboam led Israel away from following the LORD and caused them to commit a great sin.
1 Kings 13:34 And this was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its extermination and destruction from the face of the earth.
2 Kings 10:31 Yet Jehu was not careful to follow the instruction of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.

Places named

Dan