Exodus 32
1 When the people saw that Moses was taking a long time to come down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make gods for us to go before us, because as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.”
2 Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold earrings from the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”
3 All the people took off the gold earrings from their ears and brought them to Aaron.
4 He took them from their hands, shaped the gold with a tool, and made it into a cast-metal calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it, and Aaron proclaimed, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.”
6 The next day they got up early, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, then got up to revel.
7 The LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
8 They have quickly turned aside from the way I commanded them. They have made a cast-metal calf for themselves, worshiped it, sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”
9 The LORD also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people.
10 Now leave me alone, so my anger may burn against them and I may consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
11 But Moses pleaded with the LORD his God and said, “Why, LORD, should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand?
12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger and relent from bringing disaster on your people.”
13 “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and said, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I spoke of, and they will possess it forever.’”
14 Then the LORD relented from the disaster he had said he would bring on his people.
15 Moses turned and came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. The tablets were written on both sides, written on one side and the other.
16 The tablets were God's work, and the writing was God's writing, engraved on the tablets.
17 Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting and said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”
18 Moses replied, “It is not the sound of a victory song, nor the sound of a defeat song; I hear the sound of singing.”
19 As he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned. He threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.
20 He took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder. He scattered it over the water and made the Israelites drink it.
21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you brought such a great sin on them?”
22 Aaron replied, “Do not let my lord's anger burn. You know this people and how inclined they are to evil.
23 They said to me, ‘Make gods for us to go before us, because as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’
24 “I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off.’ They gave it to me, I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
25 Moses saw that the people were out of control, because Aaron had let them get out of control, making them a laughingstock among their enemies.
26 Then Moses stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me!” And all the Levites gathered around him.
27 He said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each of you, strap your sword to your side. Go back and forth through the camp from entrance to entrance, and each of you kill your brother, your friend, and your relative.’”
28 The Levites did as Moses said, and about three thousand men among the people fell that day.
29 Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, for each of you has acted against his son and his brother, so that a blessing may be given to you today.”
30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
31 Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Ah, this people has committed a great sin: they have made gods of gold for themselves!
32 Now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please erase me from your book, which you have written.”
33 The LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, that one I will erase from my book.
34 Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke to you about. My angel will go before you. But on the day I call them to account, I will punish them for their sin.”
35 The LORD struck the people because they had made the calf that Aaron made.
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