1The people saw that Moses took a long time to come down from the mountain. So they gathered around Aaron. They said to him, ‘Come. Make us a god that will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him.’2Aaron answered them, ‘Take the gold earrings off your wives, your sons and your daughters. Bring the earrings to me.’3So all the people took off their earrings. They brought them to Aaron.4He took what they gave him and made it into a metal statue of a god. It looked like a calf. Aaron shaped it with a tool. Then the people said, ‘Israel, here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.’5When Aaron saw what they were doing, he built an altar in front of the calf. He said, ‘Tomorrow will be a feast day to honour the LORD.’6So the next day the people got up early. They sacrificed burnt offerings and brought friendship offerings. They sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to dance wildly in front of their god.7The LORD spoke to Moses. He said, ‘Go down. Your people you brought up out of Egypt have become very sinful.8They have quickly turned away from what I commanded them. They have made themselves a metal statue of a god in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down and sacrificed to it. And they have said, “Israel, here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.”9‘I have seen these people,’ the LORD said to Moses. ‘They are stubborn.10Now leave me alone. I will destroy them because of my great anger. Then I will make you into a great nation.’11But Moses asked the LORD his God to have mercy on the people. ‘LORD,’ he said, ‘why should you destroy your people in anger? You used your great power and mighty hand to bring them out of Egypt.12Why should the Egyptians say, “He brought them out to hurt them. He wanted to kill them in the mountains. He wanted to wipe them off the face of the earth”? Turn away from your great anger. Please take pity on your people. Don’t destroy them!13Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel. You made a promise to them in your own name. You said, “I will make your children after you as many as the stars in the sky. I will give them all this land I promised them. It will belong to them for ever.” ’14Then the LORD took pity on his people. He didn’t destroy them as he had said he would.15Moses turned and went down the mountain. He had the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. Words were written on both sides of the tablets, front and back.16The tablets were the work of God. The words had been written by God. They had been carved on the tablets.17Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting. So he said to Moses, ‘It sounds like war in the camp.’18Moses replied, ‘It’s not the sound of winning. It’s not the sound of losing. It’s the sound of singing that I hear.’19As Moses approached the camp, he saw the calf. He also saw the people dancing. So he was very angry. He threw the tablets out of his hands. They broke into pieces at the foot of the mountain.20He took the calf the people had made. He burned it in the fire. Then he ground it into powder. He scattered it on the water. And he made the Israelites drink it.21He said to Aaron, ‘What did these people do to you? How did they make you lead them into such terrible sin?’22‘Please don’t be angry,’ Aaron answered. ‘You know how these people like to do what is evil.23They said to me, “Make us a god that will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him.”24So I told them, “Anyone who has any gold jewellery, take it off.” They gave me the gold. I threw it into the fire. And out came this calf!’25Moses saw that the people were running wild. Aaron had let them get out of control. The people had become a joke to their enemies.26Moses stood at the entrance to the camp. He said, ‘Anyone on the LORD’s side, come to me.’ All the Levites joined him.27Then he spoke to them. He said, ‘The LORD, the God of Israel, says, “Each man must put on his sword. Then he must go to and fro through the camp from one end to the other. Each man must kill his brother and friend and neighbour.” ’28The Levites did as Moses commanded. About 3,000 of the people died that day.29Then Moses said to the Levites, ‘You have been set apart for the LORD today. You fought against your own sons and brothers. And he has blessed you this day.’30The next day Moses said to the people, ‘You have committed a terrible sin. But now I will go up to the LORD. Maybe if I pray to him, he will forgive your sin.’31So Moses went back to the LORD. He said, ‘These people have committed a terrible sin. They have made a god out of gold for themselves.32Now please forgive their sin. But if you won’t, then erase my name from the book you have written.’33The LORD replied to Moses. The LORD said, ‘I will erase from my book only the names of those who have sinned against me.34Now go. Lead the people to the place I spoke about. My angel will go ahead of you. But when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.’35The LORD struck the people with a plague. That’s because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
Exodus 32
English Standard Version
The Golden Calf
1When 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.” (Ex 13:21; Ex 24:18; Ex 32:23; De 9:9; Ac 7:40)2So 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.” (Ex 12:35; Jud 8:24)3So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.4And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden[1] calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (De 9:16; Jud 17:3; 1Ki 12:28; Ne 9:18; Ps 106:19; Ac 7:41)5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” (2Ki 10:20)6And 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. (Ge 26:8; Jud 21:21; 1Co 10:7)7And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. (De 9:12; Jud 2:19; Ho 9:9)8They 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!’” (Ex 20:3; Ex 20:23; De 9:16)9And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. (Ex 33:3; Ex 33:5; Ex 34:9; De 9:6; De 9:13; De 31:27; 2Ch 30:8; Isa 48:4; Ac 7:51)10Now 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.” (Ex 22:24; Ex 33:3; Nu 14:12; De 9:14)11But 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? (De 9:18; De 9:26; Ps 74:1; Ps 106:23)12Why 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. (Ex 32:14; Nu 14:13; De 32:27)13Remember 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.’” (Ge 12:7; Ge 13:15; Ge 15:7; Ge 15:18; Ge 22:16; Ge 26:4; Ge 28:13; Ge 35:11; Ge 48:16; Heb 6:13)14And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. (1Ch 21:15; Ps 106:45; Jer 18:8; Jer 26:13; Jer 26:15; Jer 26:19; Am 7:3; Am 7:6; Jon 3:10; Jon 4:2)15Then 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. (Ex 34:29; De 9:15)16The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. (Ex 31:18)17When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” (Ex 17:9; Ex 24:13; Ex 33:11)18But 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.” (Jer 51:14)19And 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. (De 9:16; De 9:21)20He 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.21And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” (Ge 20:9)22And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. (Ex 14:11; Ex 15:24; Ex 16:2; Ex 16:20; Ex 17:2; Ex 17:4; 1Sa 15:24)23For 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.’ (Ex 32:1)24So 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.” (Ex 32:2)25And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), (Ex 32:12)26then 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.27And 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.’” (Nu 25:5; De 33:9)28And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.29And 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.” (Nu 25:11; De 13:6; Zec 13:3; Mt 10:37; Lu 14:26)30The 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.” (Ex 32:21; 1Sa 12:20; 2Sa 16:12; Am 5:15)31So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. (Ex 20:23; Ex 32:30)32But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” (Nu 14:19; Ps 56:8; Ps 69:28; Ps 139:16; Da 12:1; Ro 9:3; Php 4:3)33But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. (Eze 18:4; Eze 18:20)34But 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.” (Ex 14:19; Ex 33:12)35Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.