The Golden Calf

32 Now when the people saw that Moses ^(A)delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled around Aaron and said to him, “Come, ^(B)make us ^[a]a god who will go before us; for ^(C)this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.” ² Aaron said to them, “^(D)Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ Then he took the gold from their ^[b]hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a ^(E)cast metal calf; and they said, “^[c]This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ⁵ Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day they got up early and ^(F)offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and ^(G)the people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up ^(H)to engage in lewd behavior.

⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go ^[d]down at once, for your people, whom ^(I)you brought up from the land of Egypt, have ^(J)behaved corruptly. ⁸ They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. ^(K)They have made for themselves a cast metal calf, and have worshiped it and ^(L)have sacrificed to it and said, ‘^[e](M)This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” ^9 (N)Then the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are ^[f](O)an obstinate people. ¹⁰ So now ^(P)leave Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and ^(Q)I will make of you a great nation.”

Moses’ Plea

¹¹ Then ^(R)Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹² Why should ^(S)the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘With evil motives He brought them out, to kill them on the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent of doing harm to Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You ^(T)swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will ^(U)multiply your ^[g]descendants as the stars of the heavens, and ^(V)all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your ^[h]descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ^14 (W)So the Lord relented of the harm which He said He would do to His people.

^15 (X)Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, ^(Y)tablets which were written on both ^[i]sides; they were written on one side and the other. ¹⁶ The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. ¹⁷ Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people ^[j]as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” ¹⁸ But he said,

Moses’ Anger

¹⁹ And it came about, as soon as ^[k]Moses approached the camp, that ^(Z)he saw the calf and the people dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and ^(AA)he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them to pieces ^[l]at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰ Then ^(AB)he took the calf which they had made and completely burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.

²¹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” ²² And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, ^(AC)that they are ^[m]prone to evil. ²³ For ^(AD)they said to me, ‘Make ^[n]a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ ²⁴ So I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ Then they gave it to me, and ^(AE)I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

²⁵ Now when Moses saw that the people were ^[o]out of control—for Aaron had ^(AF)let them ^[p]get out of control to the point of being an object of ridicule among ^[q]their enemies— ²⁶ Moses then stood at the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. ²⁷ And he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Every man of you put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his ^[r]neighbor.’” ²⁸ So ^(AG)the sons of Levi did ^[s]as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. ²⁹ Then Moses said, “^[t]Dedicate yourselves today to the Lord—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.”

³⁰ And on the next day Moses said to the people, “^(AH)You yourselves have ^[u]committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the Lord; perhaps I can ^(AI)make atonement for your sin.” ³¹ Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, this people has ^[v]committed a great sin, and they have made a ^(AJ)god of gold for themselves! ³² But now, if You will forgive their sin, very well; but if not, please wipe me out from Your ^(AK)book which You have written!” ³³ However, the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, ^(AL)I will wipe him out of My book. ³⁴ But go now, lead the people ^(AM)where I told you. Behold, ^(AN)My angel shall go before you; nevertheless ^(AO)on the day when I ^[w]punish, ^(AP)I will ^[x]punish them for their sin.” ^35 (AQ)Then the Lord struck the people with a plague, because of ^(AR)what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.

The Journey Resumed

33 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which ^(AS)I swore to Abraham, ^(AT)Isaac, and ^(AU)Jacob, saying, ‘^(AV)To your ^[y]descendants I will give it.’ ² And I will send ^(AW)an angel before you and ^(AX)I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ³ Go up to a land ^(AY)flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are ^[z](AZ)an obstinate people, and ^(BA)I might destroy you on the way.”

⁴ When the people heard this ^[aa]sad word, ^(BB)they went into mourning, and none of them put on his jewelry. ⁵ For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are ^[ab](BC)an obstinate people; if I ^[ac]were to go up in your midst for just one moment, I would destroy you. So now, take off your ^[ad]jewelry that I may know what I shall do to you.’” ⁶ So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their jewelry, from Mount Horeb onward.

⁷ Now Moses used to take ^(BD)the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And ^(BE)everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp. ⁸ And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹ Whenever Moses entered the tent, ^(BF)the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; ^(BG)and ^[ae]the Lord would speak with Moses. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would stand and worship, each at the entrance of his tent. ¹¹ So ^(BH)the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When ^[af]Moses returned to the camp, ^(BI)his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Moses Intercedes

¹² Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘^(BJ)Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know ^(BK)whom You will send with me. ^(BL)Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ ¹³ Now then, if I have found favor in Your sight in any way, please ^(BM)let me know Your ways so that I may know You, in order that I may find favor in Your sight. ^(BN)Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴ And He said, “^(BO)My presence shall go with you, and ^(BP)I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ Then he said to Him, “^(BQ)If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. ¹⁶ For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that ^(BR)we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are on the face of the ^[ag]earth?”

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; ^(BS)for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” ^18 (BT)Then Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory!” ¹⁹ And He said, “^(BU)I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and ^(BV)I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.” ²⁰ He further said, “You cannot see My face, ^(BW)for mankind shall not see Me and live!” ²¹ Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place ^[ah]by Me, and ^(BX)you shall stand there on the rock; ²² and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and ^(BY)cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but ^(BZ)My face shall not be seen.”

Peter’s Denials

^69 (A)Now Peter was sitting outside in the ^(B)courtyard, and a slave woman came to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.” ⁷⁰ But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.” ⁷¹ When he had gone out to the gateway, another slave woman saw him and *said to those who were there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” ⁷² And again he denied it, with an oath: “I do not know the man.” ⁷³ A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “You really are one of them as well, ^(C)since even the way you talk ^[a]gives you away.” ⁷⁴ Then he began to curse and swear, “I do not know the man!” And immediately a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵ And Peter remembered the statement that Jesus had ^[b]made: “^(D)Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

Judas’ Remorse

27 ^(E)Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; ² and they bound Him and led Him away, and ^(F)handed Him over to ^(G)Pilate the governor.

³ Then when ^(H)Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned ^(I)the thirty ^[c]pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, ⁴ saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? ^(J)You shall see to it yourself!” ⁵ And he threw the pieces of silver into ^(K)the temple sanctuary and left; and ^(L)he went away and hanged himself. ⁶ The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them in the temple treasury, since it is money paid for blood.” ⁷ And they conferred together and ^[d]with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. ^8 (M)For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹ Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “^(N)And ^[e]they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the One whose price had been set by the sons of Israel; ^10 (O)and ^[f]they gave them for the Potter’s Field, just as the Lord directed me.”

Jesus before Pilate

^11 (P)Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, “So You are the ^(Q)King of the Jews?” And Jesus said to him, “^(R)It is as you say.” ¹² And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, ^(S)He did not offer any answer. ¹³ Then Pilate *said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they are testifying against You?” ¹⁴ And still ^(T)He did not answer him in regard to even a single ^[g]charge, so the governor was greatly amazed.

Praise to the Creator and Protector.