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 Death and Resurrection of Lazarus

11 Now a certain man was sick: Lazarus of ^(A)Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister ^(B)Martha. ² And it was the Mary who ^(C)anointed ^(D)the Lord with ^[a]ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. ³ So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “^(E)Lord, behold, ^(F)he whom You love is sick.” ⁴ But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not ^[b]meant for death, but is for ^(G)the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” ⁵ (Now Jesus loved ^(H)Martha and her sister, and Lazarus.) ⁶ So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was. ⁷ Then after this He *said to the disciples, “^(I)Let’s go to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples *said to Him, “^(J)Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking ^(K)to stone You, and yet You are going there again?” ⁹ Jesus replied, “^(L)Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if anyone walks during the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in ^[c]him.” ¹¹ This He said, and after this He *said to them, “Our ^(M)friend Lazarus ^(N)has fallen asleep; but I am going so that I may awaken him from sleep.” ¹² The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will ^[d]come out of it.” ¹³ Now ^(O)Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about ^[e]actual sleep. ¹⁴ So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus died, ¹⁵ and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let’s go to him.” ^16 (P)Therefore Thomas, who was called ^[f](Q)Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s also go, so that we may die with Him!”

¹⁷ So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb ^(R)four days. ¹⁸ Now ^(S)Bethany was near Jerusalem, about ^[g]fifteen stadia away; ¹⁹ and many of ^(T)the Jews had come to ^(U)Martha and Mary, ^(V)to console them about their brother. ²⁰ So then ^(W)Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but ^(X)Mary ^[h]stayed in the house. ²¹ Martha then said to Jesus, “^(Y)Lord, ^(Z)if You had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² Even now I know that ^(AA)whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” ²³ Jesus *said to her, “Your brother will rise from the dead.” ²⁴ Martha *said to Him, “^(AB)I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “^(AC)I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in Me ^(AD)will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have come to believe that You are ^(AE)the ^[i]Christ, the Son of God, and ^[j](AF)He who comes into the world.”

²⁸ When she had said this, she ^(AG)left and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “^(AH)The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard this, she *got up quickly and came to Him.

³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but ^(AI)was still at the place where Martha met Him. ^31 (AJ)Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were ^(AK)consoling her, when they saw that Mary had gotten up quickly and left, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² So when Mary came to the place where Jesus was, she saw Him and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “^(AL)Lord, ^(AM)if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ Therefore when Jesus saw her weeping, and ^(AN)the Jews who came with her also weeping, He ^(AO)was deeply moved in spirit and ^[k](AP)was troubled, ³⁴ and He said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus ^(AQ)wept. ³⁶ So ^(AR)the Jews were saying, “See how He ^(AS)loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could this Man, who ^(AT)opened the eyes of the man who was blind, not have also ^[l]kept this man from dying?”

³⁸ So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, *came to the tomb. Now it was a ^(AU)cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹ Jesus *said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, “Lord, by this time ^[m]there will be a stench, for he has been dead ^(AV)four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus *said to her, “^(AW)Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they removed the ^(AX)stone. And Jesus ^(AY)raised His eyes, and said, “^(AZ)Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. ⁴² But I knew that You always hear Me; nevertheless, ^(BA)because of the ^[n]people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that ^(BB)You sent Me.” ⁴³ And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ Out came the man who had died, ^(BC)bound hand and foot with wrappings, and ^(BD)his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

^45 (BE)Therefore many of the Jews ^(BF)who came to Mary, and ^(BG)saw what He had done, believed in Him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went to the ^(BH)Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.

Conspiracy to Kill Jesus

⁴⁷ Therefore ^(BI)the chief priests and the Pharisees ^(BJ)convened a ^(BK)council meeting, and they were saying, “What are we ^[o]doing in regard to the fact that this Man is performing many ^[p](BL)signs? ⁴⁸ If we let Him go on like this, all the people will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take over both our ^[q](BM)place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, ^(BN)Caiaphas, ^(BO)who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, ⁵⁰ nor are you taking into account that ^(BP)it is in your best interest that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish instead.” ⁵¹ Now he did not say this ^[r]on his own, but ^(BQ)as he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation; ⁵² and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also ^(BR)gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. ⁵³ So from that day on they ^(BS)planned together to kill Him.

⁵⁴ Therefore Jesus ^(BT)no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, into a city called ^(BU)Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.

⁵⁵ Now ^(BV)the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country prior to the Passover, ^(BW)in order to ^[s]purify themselves. ⁵⁶ So they ^(BX)were looking for Jesus, and saying to one another as they stood in the temple area, “What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?” ⁵⁷ Now ^(BY)the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might arrest Him.