1Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
2Aaron said to them, Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring
them to me.
3Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought
them to Aaron.
4He took
this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
5Now when Aaron saw
this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow
shall be a feast to the L.
6So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7Then the L spoke to Moses, Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corruptedthemselves.8They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!9The L said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people.10Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.
11Then Moses entreated the L his God, and said, O L, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?12Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, With evilintent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind aboutdoing harm to Your people.13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inheritit forever.14So the L changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.
15Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they were written on oneside and the other.16The tablets were Gods work, and the writing was Gods writing engraved on the tablets.17Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, There is a sound of war in the camp.
18But he said,
It is not the sound of the cry of triumph,
Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat;
But the sound of singing I hear.
19It came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf andthe dancing; and Moses anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.20He took the calf which they had made and burnedit with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drinkit.
21Then Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you, that you have broughtsuch great sin upon them?22Aaron said, Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil.23For they said to me, Make a god for us 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 become of him.24I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off. So they gaveit to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.
25Now when Moses saw that the people were out of controlfor Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies26then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoever is for the L,come to me! And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him.27He said to them, Thus says the L, the God of Israel, Every manof you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.28So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.29Then Moses said, Dedicate yourselves today to the Lfor every man has been against his son and against his brotherin order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.
30On the next day Moses said to the people, You yourselves have committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the L, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.31Then Moses returned to the L, and said, Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves.32But now, if You will, forgive their sinand if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!33The L said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.34But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.35Then the L smote the people, because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.