EXODUS 32

And when the people saw that Moses delayed his coming down from the mountain, the people came together to Aaron and said to him, Get up, make gods for us which shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. 2 And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. 3 So all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he took the gold from their hands, and fashioned it with a chisel,* and cast a metal calf with it; and they said, These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. 5 And Aaron saw it, and built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, Tomorrow there will be a feast to Yehowah. 6 And they rose up early the next day, and presented burnt-offerings, and brought communion-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to amuse themselves. * Heb heret, a tool used in metalwork

7 And Yehowah said to Moses, Go and get down; for your people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves; 8 they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them, for they have cast a metal calf for themselves; and they have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it, and have said, These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. 9 And Yehowah said to Moses, I observe this people, and see, it is a stiffnecked people. 10 And now leave me, so that my anger may grow hot against them, and I may make an end of them; but from you I will make a great nation.

11 And Moses entreated Yehowah his God, and said, O Yehowah, why does thine anger grow hot against thy people, whom thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, For evil he led them out to kill them on the mountains and to make an end of them on the face of the earth? Turn from the heat of thine anger, and repent of this evil against thy people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, thy servants, to whom thou didst swear by thyself, and didst say to them, I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever. 14 Then Yehowah repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.

15 So Moses turned and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands; the tablets were written across both sides; they were written from one side to the other side. 16 And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. 17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, The noise of war is in the camp. 18 But he said, It is not the noise of a shouting for victory, and it is not the noise of a cry of defeat; but it is the sound of singing that I hear. 19 And as he came near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing; and the anger of Moses flared up, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and smashed them beneath the mountain. 20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in a fire, and crushed it to powder; and he scattered it on the surface of the water, and made the sons of Israel drink it.

21 Then Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you, to make you bring a great sin on them? 22 And Aaron said, Do not let the anger of my lord flare up; you know that the people are in evil. 23 And they said to me, Make gods for us which shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. 24 So I said to them, Let those who have gold break it off; and they gave it to me, and I threw it into a fire, and this calf came out.

25 And when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had let them go unrestrained, to be ridiculed among their enemies), 26 Moses stood at the gate of the camp, and said, Let whoever is for Yehowah come to me. And all the sons of Levi came together to him. 27 And he said to them, Thus says Yehowah the God of Israel, Let every man gird his sword on his thigh; go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. 28 And the sons of Levi did as Moses had said; and about three thousand of the people fell that day. 29 And Moses said, Consecrate yourselves today to Yehowah (for every man has been against his son and against his brother) so that he may impart a blessing to you today.

30 And so on the next day Moses said to the people, You have committed a great sin. And now I will go up to Yehowah; perhaps I can make a reconciliation for your sin. 31 Then Moses returned to Yehowah, and said, Alas, this people have committed a great sin, and have made gods of gold for themselves. 32 And now, if only thou wilt forgive their sin! But if not, please blot me out of thy book which thou hast written. 33 And Yehowah said to Moses, I will blot out of my book whoever has sinned against me. 34 So now go and lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; see, my angel shall go before you. But on the day when I visit them I will bring their sin upon them.

35 And Yehowah struck the people down because they made the calf which Aaron had made.