Israel Comes to Mount Sinai

19 Exactly three months after the people of Israel left Egypt, they came to the Desert of Sinai. ² After they started out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai. They camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.

³ Then Moses went up to God. The Lord called out to him from the mountain. He said, “Here is what I want you to say to my people, who belong to Jacob’s family. Tell the Israelites, ⁴ ‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt. You saw how I carried you on the wings of eagles and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now obey me completely. Keep my covenant. If you do, then out of all the nations you will be my special treasure. The whole earth is mine. ⁶ But you will be a kingdom of priests to serve me. You will be my holy nation.’ That is what you must tell the Israelites.”

⁷ So Moses went back. He sent for the elders of the people. He explained to them everything the Lord had commanded him to say. ⁸ All the people answered together. They said, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.

⁹ The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “I am going to come to you in a thick cloud. The people will hear me speaking with you. They will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

¹⁰ The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people. Today and tomorrow set them apart for me. Have them wash their clothes. ¹¹ Have the people ready by the third day. On that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai. Everyone will see it.

¹⁶ On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud covered the mountain. A trumpet gave out a very loud blast. Everyone in the camp trembled with fear. ¹⁷ Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God. They stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ Smoke covered Mount Sinai, because the Lord came down on it in fire. The smoke rose up from it like smoke from a furnace. The whole mountain trembled and shook. ¹⁹ The sound of the trumpet got louder and louder. Then Moses spoke. And the voice of God answered him.

God Gives His People the Ten Commandments

20 Here are all the words God spoke. He said,

² “I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt. That is the land where you were slaves.

The Blood of the Covenant

24 The Lord said to Moses, “You and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel must come to worship the Lord. Do not come close when you worship. ² Only Moses can come close to me. The others must not come near. And the people may not go up with him.”

¹² The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Stay here. I will give you the stone tablets. They contain the law and commandments I have written to teach the people.”

¹³ Then Moses and Joshua, his helper, started out. Moses went up on the mountain of God. ¹⁴ He said to the elders, “Wait for us here until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you. Anyone who has a problem can go to them.”

¹⁵ Moses went up on the mountain. Then the cloud covered it. ¹⁶ The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. The cloud covered the mountain for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called out to Moses from inside the cloud. ¹⁷ The people of Israel saw the glory of the Lord. It looked like a fire burning on top of the mountain. ¹⁸ Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. He stayed on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights.

¹⁸ The Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai. Then he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law. They were made out of stone. The words on them were written by the finger of God.

Israel Worships a Golden Calf

32 The 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.”

² Aaron answered them, “Take the gold earrings off your wives, your sons and your daughters. Bring the earrings to me.” ³ So all the people took off their earrings. They brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He 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.”

⁵ When Aaron saw what they were doing, he built an altar in front of the calf. He said, “Tomorrow will be a feast day to honor the Lord.” ⁶ So 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.

⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “Go down. Your people you brought up out of Egypt have become very sinful. ⁸ They 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. ¹⁰ Now leave me alone. I will destroy them because of my great anger. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

¹¹ But 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. ¹² Why 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! ¹³ Remember 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 forever.’ ” ¹⁴ Then the Lord took pity on his people. He didn’t destroy them as he had said he would.

¹⁵ Moses 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. ¹⁶ The tablets were the work of God. The words had been written by God. They had been carved on the tablets.

¹⁷ Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting. So he said to Moses, “It sounds like war in the camp.”

¹⁸ Moses replied,

¹⁹ As 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. ²⁰ He 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.

²¹ He 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. ²³ They 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.’ ²⁴ So I told them, ‘Anyone who has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ They gave me the gold. I threw it into the fire. And out came this calf!”