¹⁴ He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur^(A) are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute^(B) can go to them.”

¹² When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.^(A)

¹⁰ So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur^(A) went to the top of the hill.

⁵ He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.^(A)”

⁸ He waited seven^(A) days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. ⁹ So he said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.” And Saul offered^(B) up the burnt offering. ¹⁰ Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel^(C) arrived, and Saul went out to greet^(D) him.

¹¹ “What have you done?” asked Samuel.

Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash,^{(E) 12} I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal,^(F) and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.^(G)’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

¹³ “You have done a foolish thing,^(H)” Samuel said. “You have not kept^(I) the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.^(J)

⁸ “Go down ahead of me to Gilgal.^(A) I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven^(B) days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.”

The Golden Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain,^(A) they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods^[a] who will go before^(B) us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”^(C)

²⁵ He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders^(A) of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.^{(B) 26} They served as judges^(C) for the people at all times. The difficult cases^(D) they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.^(E)