Chapter 32
1
When he saw that Moses was delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, "Rise, make gods 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."
2
Aaron said to them, "Break off the gold earrings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."
3
All the people took off their gold earrings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
4
He took it from their hand, formed it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf. They said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."
5
And he saw that Aaron had built an altar before it, and Aaron proclaimed and said, "A feast to the LORD tomorrow."
6
And they rose early the next morning and offered up a burnt offering and brought near 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 from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves."
8
They have turned aside quickly from the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and they have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it, and they have said, "These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."
9
And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and see, it is a stiff-necked people."
10
Now let me alone, and my anger will burn against them and consume them, and I will make you into a great nation.
11
And Moses entreated the face of the LORD his God and said, "Why, LORD, does your anger burn against your people whom you brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand?"
12
Why will Egypt say, "He brought them out in evil, to kill them in the mountains and to finish them off from the face of the ground"? Turn from the fierceness of your anger, and relent over the evil to your people.
13
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and said to them, God, "I will multiply your Seed like the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I said I will give to your Seed, and they will possess it forever."
14
And the LORD relented concerning the evil that he had spoken of doing to his people.
15
And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand—tablets written on both sides, on this side and on that side.
16
And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
17
And Joshua heard the voice of the people as they sang and said to Moses, "There is a voice of war in the camp."
18
He said, "It is not the sound of those who have the upper hand, nor the sound of those who are defeated—it is the sound of revelry that I hear."
19
When he drew near to the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses's anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
20
And he took the calf that they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it until it was fine, scattered it on the surface of the waters, and made the sons of Israel drink it.
21
Moses said to Aaron, "What has this people done 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
And they said to me, "Make for us gods who will go before us, for this is Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has become of him."
24
And he said to them, "Who has gold? Take it off and give it to me." And I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.
25
And Moses saw the people, for they were let loose, for Aaron had let them loose, to be a reproach among their enemies.
26
And Moses stood at the gate of the camp and said, "Who is for the LORD? To me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered to him.
27
And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Put each man his sword on his thigh, pass through and return from gate to gate in the camp, and kill each man his brother and each man his companion and each man his neighbor.'"
28
The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.
29
And Moses said, "Fill your hand today for the LORD, for a man has been in his son and in his brother, and to put on you today a blessing."
30
And 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 will make atonement for your sin."
31
Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Please, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made gods of gold for themselves."
32
And now, if you forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from your book that you have written.
33
And the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out from my book."
34
And now go, lead the people to the place of which I spoke to you. Behold, my angel will go before you. But on the day of my visiting, I will visit their sin upon them.
35
And the LORD struck the people because of what they had made—the calf that Aaron made.
Chapter 33
1
And the LORD spoke to Moses, "Go, ascend from this place; you and the people whom you caused to ascend from the land of Egypt to the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, 'To your seed I will give it.'"
2
And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
3
to a land flowing with milk and honey, for I will not go up in your midst, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.
4
And the people heard this bad news and they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments.
5
And the LORD said to Moses, "Say to the sons of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people. If I go up in your midst for one moment, I will consume you. Now remove your ornaments from upon you, that I may know what I will do to you.'"
6
And the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward.