The Golden Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses ^(A)delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ^(B)“Up, make us gods who shall ^(C)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.” ² So Aaron said to them, “Take off the ^(D)rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ^4 (E)And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden^[a] calf. And they said, ^(F)“These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” ⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron ^(G)made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” ⁶ And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And ^(H)the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up ^(I)to play.

⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(J)“Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have ^(K)corrupted themselves. ⁸ They have turned aside quickly out of the way that ^(L)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!’” ⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, ^(M)it is a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰ Now therefore ^(N)let me alone, that ^(O)my wrath may burn hot against them and ^(P)I may consume them, in order that ^(Q)I may make a great nation of you.”

¹¹ But ^(R)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? ^12 (S)Why 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 ^(T)relent from this disaster against your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you ^(U)swore by your own self, and said to them, ^(V)‘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.’” ¹⁴ And the Lord ^(W)relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

¹⁵ Then ^(X)Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the ^(Y)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. ^16 (Z)The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. ¹⁷ When ^(AA)Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” ¹⁸ But he said, “It is not the sound of ^(AB)shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” ¹⁹ And as soon as he came near the camp and ^(AC)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. ²⁰ He 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.

Job Continues: Death Comes Soon to All

The Coming of the Lord

¹³ But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, ^(A)that you may not grieve as others do ^(B)who have no hope. ¹⁴ For ^(C)since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him ^(D)those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵ For this we declare to you ^(E)by a word from the Lord,^[a] that ^(F)we who are alive, who are left until ^(G)the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For ^(H)the Lord himself will descend ^(I)from heaven ^(J)with a cry of command, with the voice of ^(K)an archangel, and ^(L)with the sound of the trumpet of God. And ^(M)the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive, who are left, will be ^(N)caught up together with them ^(O)in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so ^(P)we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The Abomination of Desolation

¹⁵ “So when you see the abomination of desolation ^(A)spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in ^(B)the holy place (^(C)let the reader understand), ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ^17 (D)Let the one who is on ^(E)the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, ¹⁸ and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. ¹⁹ And ^(F)alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! ²⁰ Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be ^(G)great tribulation, ^(H)such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. ²² And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for ^(I)the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. ^23 (J)Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For ^(K)false christs and ^(L)false prophets will arise and ^(M)perform great signs and wonders, ^(N)so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, ^(O)I have told you beforehand. ²⁶ So, if they say to you, ‘Look, ^(P)he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ^27 (Q)For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be ^(R)the coming of the Son of Man. ^28 (S)Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

The Coming of the Kingdom

²⁰ Being asked by the Pharisees ^(A)when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God ^(B)is not coming in ways that can be observed, ²¹ nor ^(C)will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”^[a]

²² And he said to the disciples, ^(D)“The days are coming when you will desire ^(E)to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. ^23 (F)And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. ^24 (G)For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be ^(H)in his day.^{[b] 25} But first ^(I)he must suffer many things and ^(J)be rejected by this generation. ^26 (K)Just as it was in the days of ^(L)Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. ^27 (M)They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸ Likewise, just as it was in the days of ^(N)Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, ^29 (O)but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— ³⁰ so will it be ^(P)on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

The Fool Says, There Is No God

To the choirmaster. Of David.

Do Not Hide Your Face from Me

A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is ^(A)faint and ^(B)pours out his complaint before the Lord.