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[The Golden Calf]
[32:1] When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together
to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out
of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” [2] So Aaron said to them,
“Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”
[3] So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
[4] And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said,
“These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” [5] When Aaron saw this, he
built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” [6] And
they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and
drink and rose up to play. [7] And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up
out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. [8] They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded
them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your
gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” [9] And the LORD said to Moses, “I have
seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. [10] Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot
against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” [11] But Moses implored
the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the
land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? [12] Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did
he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning
anger and relent from this disaster against your people. [13] Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to
whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this
land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” [14] And the
LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. [15] Then Moses turned and went down
from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front
and on the back they were written. [16] The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved
on the tablets. [17] When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise
of war in the camp.” [18] But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the
cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” [19] And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf
and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
[20] He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water
and made the people of Israel drink it. [21] And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that
you have brought such a great sin upon them?” [22] And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot.
You know the people, that they are set on evil. [23] For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us.
As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ [24] So
I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and
out came this calf.” [25] And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break
loose, to the derision of their enemies), [26] then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the
LORD's side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. [27] And he said to them, “Thus says
the LORD God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the
camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” [28] And the sons of Levi did
according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. [29] And Moses said, “Today
you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow
a blessing upon you this day.” [30] The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great
sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” [31] So Moses returned to the
LORD and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. [32] But
now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” [33] But
the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. [34] But now go, lead the people
to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit,
I will visit their sin upon them.” [35] Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf,
the one that Aaron made.Exodus 32
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