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 Adulterous Woman

8 But Jesus went to ^(A)the Mount of Olives. ² And early in the morning He came again into the temple area, and all the people were coming to Him; and ^(B)He sat down and began teaching them. ³ Now the scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in the act of adultery, and after placing her in the center of the courtyard, ⁴ they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of committing adultery. ⁵ Now in the Law, ^(C)Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” ⁶ Now they were saying this to ^(D)test Him, ^(E)so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. ⁷ When they persisted in asking Him, ^(F)He straightened up and said to them, “^(G)He who is without sin among you, let him be the ^(H)first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ Now when they heard this, they began leaving, one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman where she was, in the center of the courtyard. ¹⁰ And ^(I)straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, ^[a]Lord.” And Jesus said, “^(J)I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on do not ^(K)sin any longer.”]]

Jesus Is the Light of the World

¹² Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “^(L)I am the Light of the world; ^(M)the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” ¹³ So the Pharisees said to Him, “^(N)You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not ^[b]true.” ¹⁴ Jesus answered and said to them, “^(O)Even if I am testifying about Myself, My testimony is ^[c]true, because I know ^(P)where I came from and where I am going; but ^(Q)you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ^15 (R)You judge ^[d]according to the flesh; ^(S)I am not judging anyone. ¹⁶ But even ^(T)if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me. ¹⁷ Even in ^(U)your Law it has been written that the testimony of ^(V)two people is ^[e]true. ¹⁸ I am He who testifies about Myself, and ^(W)the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.” ¹⁹ So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; ^(X)if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” ²⁰ These words He spoke ^[f]in ^(Y)the treasury, as ^(Z)He taught in the temple area; and no one arrested Him, because ^(AA)His hour had not yet come.

²¹ Then He said again to them, “I am going away, and ^(AB)you will look for Me, and ^(AC)will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” ²² So ^(AD)the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘^(AE)Where I am going, you cannot come’?” ²³ And He was saying to them, “^(AF)You are from below, I am from above; ^(AG)you are of this world, ^(AH)I am not of this world. ²⁴ Therefore I said to you that you ^(AI)will die in your sins; for unless you believe that ^[g](AJ)I am, ^(AK)you will die in your sins.” ²⁵ Then they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “^[h]What have I even been saying to you from the beginning? ²⁶ I have many things to say and to judge regarding you, but ^(AL)He who sent Me is true; and ^(AM)the things which I heard from Him, these I say to the world.” ²⁷ They did not realize that He was speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said, “When you ^(AN)lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that ^[i](AO)I am, and ^(AP)I do nothing ^[j]on My own, but I say these things as the Father instructed Me. ²⁹ And He who sent Me is with Me; ^(AQ)He ^[k]has not left Me alone, for ^(AR)I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” ³⁰ As He said these things, ^(AS)many came to believe in Him.

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 ^(A)I swore to Abraham, ^(B)Isaac, and ^(C)Jacob, saying, ‘^(D)To your ^[a]descendants I will give it.’ ² And I will send ^(E)an angel before you and ^(F)I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ³ Go up to a land ^(G)flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are ^[b](H)an obstinate people, and ^(I)I might destroy you on the way.”

⁴ When the people heard this ^[c]sad word, ^(J)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 ^[d](K)an obstinate people; if I ^[e]were to go up in your midst for just one moment, I would destroy you. So now, take off your ^[f]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 ^(L)the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And ^(M)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, ^(N)the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; ^(O)and ^[g]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 ^(P)the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When ^[h]Moses returned to the camp, ^(Q)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, ‘^(R)Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know ^(S)whom You will send with me. ^(T)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 ^(U)let me know Your ways so that I may know You, in order that I may find favor in Your sight. ^(V)Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴ And He said, “^(W)My presence shall go with you, and ^(X)I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ Then he said to Him, “^(Y)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 ^(Z)we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are on the face of the ^[i]earth?”

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; ^(AA)for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” ^18 (AB)Then Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory!” ¹⁹ And He said, “^(AC)I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and ^(AD)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, ^(AE)for mankind shall not see Me and live!” ²¹ Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place ^[j]by Me, and ^(AF)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 ^(AG)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 ^(AH)My face shall not be seen.”

Overseers and Deacons

3 ^(A)It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the ^(B)office of ^[a]overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. ^2 [b](C)An overseer, then, must be above reproach, ^(D)the husband of one wife, ^[c](E)temperate, self-controlled, respectable, ^(F)hospitable, ^(G)skillful in teaching, ^3 (H)not overindulging in wine, not ^[d]a bully, but gentle, not contentious, ^(I)free from the love of money. ⁴ He must be one who ^(J)manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity ⁵ (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of ^(K)the church of God?), ⁶ and not a new convert, so that he will not become ^(L)conceited and fall into ^(M)condemnation ^[e]incurred by the devil. ⁷ And he must ^(N)have a good reputation with ^(O)those outside the church, so that he will not fall into ^[f]disgrace and ^(P)the snare of the devil.

^8 (Q)Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not ^[g]insincere, ^(R)not prone to drink much wine, ^(S)not greedy for money, ^9 (T)but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. ^10 (U)These men must also first be tested; then have them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. ^11 [h]Women must likewise be dignified, ^(V)not malicious gossips, but ^[i](W)temperate, faithful in all things. ^12 (X)Deacons must be ^(Y)husbands of one wife, and ^[j](Z)good managers of their children and their own households. ¹³ For those who have served well as deacons ^(AA)obtain for themselves a ^[k]high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴ I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; ¹⁵ but ^[l]in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one should act in ^(AB)the household of God, which is the ^(AC)church of ^(AD)the living God, the ^(AE)pillar and support of the truth. ¹⁶ Beyond question, great is ^(AF)the mystery of godliness: