Exodus 32

1When the people saw that Moses was taking a long time to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make gods for us that will go before us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.”

2And 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.”

3So all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

4And he took it from their hands and fashioned it with a graving tool, and he made it into a cast calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

5When Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. Then Aaron proclaimed and said, “Tomorrow will be a feast to Yahweh.”

6And they rose early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. Then the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

7Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.”

8They have quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a cast image of a calf, and have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.’

9And Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.”

10Now leave me alone, so that my anger may burn against them and I may consume them; and I will make you into a great nation.

11But Moses pleaded with Yahweh his God and said, “Why, Yahweh, should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand?”

12Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger, and relent concerning the harm intended for your people.

13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring like the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’

14And Yahweh relented concerning the harm that he had spoken of doing to his people.

15Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets written on both their sides; on this side and on that they were written.

16The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

17When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”

18And he said, “It is not the sound of a cry of victory, and it is not the sound of a cry of defeat; I hear the sound of singing.”

19And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.

20He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it until it was fine, scattered it on the surface of the water, and made the sons of Israel drink it.

21Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought a great sin upon them?”

22And Aaron said, “Do not let my lord’s anger burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.”

23And they said to me, ‘Make gods for us, which will go before us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.’

24And I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.

25When Moses saw that the people were out of control—for Aaron had let them get out of control, for a derision among those who rose against them—

26Then Moses stood at the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is for Yahweh, come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered to him.

27And he said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Each man, put his sword on his thigh. Pass through and return from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each man kill his brother, and each man his companion, and each man his neighbor.”

28And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and about three thousand men from among the people fell that day.

29And Moses said, “Today ordain yourselves to the LORD, for each man has been against his son and against his brother, so that he may bestow a blessing on you today.”

30And it happened on the next day that Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to Yahweh; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

31Then Moses returned to Yahweh and said, “Please, this people has sinned a great sin, and they have made gods of gold for themselves.”

32But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.

33And Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book.”

34But now go, lead the people to where I have spoken to you. Look, my angel will go before you; but on the day when I call them to account, I will call them to account for their sin.

35Then Yahweh struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf that Aaron made.