Exodus 32

When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us gods who will go before us, for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.” Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold earrings in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” All the people took off the gold earrings in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He received the gold from their hands and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a cast calf. They said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” They rose early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. The LORD said to Moses, “Go, get down, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside from the way I commanded them. They have made for themselves a cast calf and bowed down to it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and look, it is a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone, that my anger may burn against them and I may consume them, and I will make of you a great nation.” Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God and said, “LORD, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent concerning the disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and said, ‘I will multiply your offspring like the stars of the heavens, and all this land I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” The LORD relented concerning the disaster he had said he would bring on his people. Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on one side and on the other they were written. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” He said, “It is not the sound of a shout of victory, nor the sound of a cry of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear.” When he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned. He threw the tablets from his hand and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf they had made and burned it with fire and ground it fine. He scattered it over the surface of the water and made the Israelites drink it. Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you brought so great a sin on them?” Aaron said, “Do not let my lord’s anger burn. You know the people, that they are set on evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us, for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.’ I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off.’ They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” Moses saw that the people had broken loose, for Aaron had let them loose, to the derision of their adversaries. Moses stood at the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me!” All the sons of Levi gathered to him. He said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let every man put his sword at his side. Go back and forth from gate to gate through the camp, and let every man kill his brother, his companion, and his relative.’” The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, for each of you has been against his son and his brother, that a blessing may be bestowed on you today.” The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin and have made for themselves gods of gold. Now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” The LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I have spoken of to you. Look, my angel will go before you. But on the day I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.” The LORD struck the people because they made the calf that Aaron made.

Rights and attribution