Exodus 31:12-32:6

English Standard Version

The Sabbath

¹²And the Lord said to Moses, ¹³“You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. ¹⁴You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. ^(A)Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. ¹⁵^(B)Six days shall work be done, but ^(C)the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. ^(D)Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. ¹⁶Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. ¹⁷^(E)It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that ^(F)in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and ^(G)on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”

¹⁸And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the ^(H)two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with ^(I)the finger of God.

The Golden Calf

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