Exodus 32

1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people combined against Aaron, and said to him, Arise and make us gods who shall go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us forth out of the land of Egypt- we do not know what has become of him.

2 And Aaron said to them, Take off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives and daughters, and bring them to me.

3 And all the people took off the golden earrings that were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.

4 And he received them from their hands, and formed them with an engraving tool; and he made them a molded calf, and said, These [are] your gods, O Israel, which have brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

5 And Aaron, having seen it, built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation saying, Tomorrow [is] a feast to the Lord.

6 And having risen early on the next day, he offered whole burnt offerings, and offered a peace offering; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

7 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Go quickly, descend from here, for your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have transgressed;

8 they have quickly gone out of the way which you have commanded; they have made for themselves a calf, and worshipped it, and sacrificed to it, and said,

9 These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

10 Now therefore let Me alone, and I will be very angry with them and consume them, and I will make you a great nation.

11 And Moses prayed before the Lord God, and said, Why, O Lord, are You very angry with Your people, whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great strength, and with Your mighty arm?

12 [Take heed] lest at any time the Egyptians speak, saying, With evil intent He brought them out to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from off the earth; cease from Your wrathful anger, and be merciful to the sin of Your people,

13 remembering Abraham and Isaac and Jacob Your servants, to whom You have sworn by Yourself, and have spoken to them, saying, I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of heaven for multitude, and all this land which You spoke of to give to them, so that they shall possess it forever.

14 And the Lord was prevailed upon to preserve His people.

15 And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hands, tablets of stone written on both their sides: they were written within and without.

16 And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing [was] the writing of God written on the tablets.

17 And Joshua, having heard the voice of the people crying, said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.

18 And [Moses] said, It is not the voice of them that begin the battle, nor the voice of them that begin [the cry] of defeat, but the voice of them that begin [the banquet] of wine that I hear.

19 And when he drew near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dances; and Moses, being very angry, cast the two tablets out of his hands and broke them to pieces under the mountain.

20 And having taken the calf which they made, he consumed it with fire, and ground it very small, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel to drink it.

21 And Moses said to Aaron, What have this people done to you, that you have brought such a great sin upon them?

22 And Aaron said to Moses, Be not angry, [my] lord, for you know the impulsiveness of this people.

23 For they said to me, Make us gods which shall go before us; as for this man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

24 And I said to them, If anyone has golden ornaments, take them off; and they gave them to me, and I cast them into the fire, and this calf came out.

25 And when Moses saw that the people were scattered (for Aaron [had] scattered them [so as to be] a rejoicing to their enemies)

26 then Moses stood at the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come to me. Then all the sons of Levi came to him.

27 And he said to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Let every man put his sword on his thigh, and go through and return from gate to gate through the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his neighbor, and every man that is nearest to him.

28 And the sons of Levi did as Moses spoke to them, and there fell of the people in that day to the [number of] three thousand men.

29 And Moses said to them, You have filled your hands this day to the Lord, each one on his son or on his brother, so that blessing should be given to you.

30 And it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, You have sinned a great sin; and now I will go up to God, that I may make atonement for your sin.

31 And Moses returned to the Lord and said, I pray, O Lord, this people have sinned a great sin, and they have made for themselves golden gods.

32 And now if You will forgive their sin, forgive; and if not, blot me out of Your book, which You have written.

33 And the Lord said to Moses, If anyone has sinned against Me, I will blot them out of My book.

34 And now go, descend [from here], and lead this people into the place of which I spoke to you: behold, My angel shall go before your face; and in the day when I shall visit I will bring upon them their sin.

35 And the Lord struck the people for the making of the calf, which Aaron made.