Deuteronomy 9:13-21

Common English Bible

¹³ The Lord said more to me: “I have seen this people. Look! What a stubborn people they are! ¹⁴ Now stand back. I am going to wipe them out. I will erase their name from under heaven, then I will make a nation out of you—one stronger and larger than they were.”

¹⁵ So I went down the mountain while it was blazing with fire. The two covenant tablets were in my two hands. ¹⁶ It was then that I saw how you sinned against the Lord your God: you made yourselves a calf, an idol made of cast metal! You couldn’t wait to turn from the path the Lord commanded you! ¹⁷ I grabbed the two tablets and threw them down with my own hands, shattering them while you watched. ¹⁸ Then I fell before the Lord as I had done the previous forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water, all because of the sin that you had committed by doing such evil in the Lord’s sight, infuriating him. ¹⁹ I was afraid of the massive anger and rage the Lord had for you—he was going to wipe you out! However, the Lord listened to me again in that moment.

²⁰ But the Lord was furious with Aaron—he was going to wipe him out! So I also prayed hard for Aaron at that time. ²¹ And as for that sinful thing you made, that calf, I took it and I burned it with fire. Then I smashed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was as fine as dust. Then I dumped the dust into the stream that ran down the mountain.