Exodus 31-33

Complete Jewish Bible

31 Adonai said to Moshe, ² “I have singled out B’tzal’el the son of Uri the son of Hur, of the tribe of Y’hudah. ³ I have filled him with the Spirit of God — with wisdom, understanding and knowledge concerning every kind of artisanry. ⁴ He is a master of design in gold, silver, bronze, ⁵ cutting precious stones to be set, woodcarving and every other craft.

⁶ “I have also appointed as his assistant Oholi’av the son of Achisamakh, of the tribe of Dan. Moreover, I have endowed all the craftsmen with the wisdom to make everything I have ordered you — ⁷ the tent of meeting, the ark for the testimony, the ark-cover above it, all the furnishings of the tent, ⁸ the table and its utensils, the pure menorah and all its utensils, the incense altar, ⁹ the altar for burnt offerings and all its utensils, the basin and its base, ¹⁰ the garments for officiating, the holy garments for Aharon the cohen and the garments for his sons, so that they can serve in the office of cohen, ¹¹ the anointing oil and the incense of aromatic spices for the Holy Place: they are to make everything just as I have ordered you.”

¹² Adonai said to Moshe, ¹³ “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘You are to observe my Shabbats; for this is a sign between me and you through all your generations; so that you will know that I am Adonai, who sets you apart for me. ¹⁴ Therefore you are to keep my Shabbat, because it is set apart for you. Everyone who treats it as ordinary must be put to death; for whoever does any work on it is to be cut off from his people. ¹⁵ On six days work will get done; but the seventh day is Shabbat, for complete rest, set apart for Adonai. Whoever does any work on the day of Shabbat must be put to death. ¹⁶ The people of Isra’el are to keep the Shabbat, to observe Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant. ¹⁷ It is a sign between me and the people of Isra’el forever; for in six days Adonai made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and rested.’”

(ii) ¹⁸ When he had finished speaking with Moshe on Mount Sinai, Adonai gave him the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

32 When the people saw that Moshe was taking a long time to come down from the mountain, they gathered around Aharon and said to him, “Get busy; and make us gods to go ahead of us; because this Moshe, the man that brought us up from the land of Egypt — we don’t know what has become of him.” ² Aharon said to them, “Have your wives, sons and daughters strip off their gold earrings; and bring them to me.” ³ The people stripped off their gold earrings and brought them to Aharon. ⁴ He received what they gave him, melted it down, and made it into the shape of a calf. They said, “Isra’el! Here is your god, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” ⁵ On seeing this, Aharon built an altar in front of it and proclaimed, “Tomorrow is to be a feast for Adonai.” ⁶ Early the next morning they got up and offered burnt offerings and presented peace offerings. Afterwards, the people sat down to eat and drink; then they got up to indulge in revelry.

⁷ Adonai said to Moshe, “Go down! Hurry! Your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have become corrupt! ⁸ So quickly they have turned aside from the way I ordered them to follow! They have cast a metal statue of a calf, worshipped it, sacrificed to it and said, ‘Isra’el! Here is your god, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” ⁹ Adonai continued speaking to Moshe: “I have been watching these people; and you can see how stiffnecked they are. ¹⁰ Now leave me alone, so that my anger can blaze against them, and I can put an end to them! I will make a great nation out of you instead.”

¹¹ Moshe pleaded with Adonai his God. He said, “Adonai, why must your anger blaze against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand? ¹² Why let the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intentions that he led them out, to slaughter them in the hills and wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger! Relent! Don’t bring such disaster on your people! ¹³ Remember Avraham, Yitz’chak and Isra’el, your servants, to whom you swore by your very self. You promised them, ‘I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky; and I will give all this land I have spoken about to your descendants; and they will possess it forever.’” ¹⁴ Adonai then changed his mind about the disaster he had planned for his people.

¹⁵ Moshe turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets inscribed on both sides, on the front and on the back. ¹⁶ The tablets were the work of God; and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. ¹⁷ When Y’hoshua heard the noise of the people shouting he said to Moshe, “It sounds like war in the camp!” ¹⁸ He answered, “That is neither the clamor of victory nor the wailings of defeat; what I hear is the sound of people singing.”

¹⁹ But the moment Moshe got near the camp, when he saw the calf and the dancing, his own anger blazed up. He threw down the tablets he had been holding and shattered them at the base of the mountain. ²⁰ Seizing the calf they had made, he melted it in the fire and ground it to powder, which he scattered on the water. Then he made the people of Isra’el drink it.

²¹ Moshe said to Aharon, “What did these people do to you to make you lead them into such a terrible sin?” ²² Aharon replied, “My lord shouldn’t be so angry. You know what these people are like, that they are determined to do evil. ²³ So they said to me, ‘Make us gods to go ahead of us; because this Moshe, the man that brought us up from the land of Egypt — we don’t know what has become of him.’ ²⁴ I answered them, ‘Anyone with gold, strip it off!’ So they gave it to me. I threw it in the fire, and out came this calf!”

²⁵ When Moshe saw that the people had gotten out of control — because Aharon had allowed them to get out of control, to the derision of their enemies — ²⁶ Moshe stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, “Whoever is for Adonai, come to me!” All the descendants of Levi rallied around him. ²⁷ He told them, “Here is what Adonai, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘Each of you, put his sword on his side; and go up and down the camp, from gate to gate; and every man is to kill his own kinsman, his own friend and his own neighbor!” ²⁸ The sons of Levi did what Moshe said, and that day three thousand of the people died. ²⁹ Moshe said, “You have consecrated yourselves today to Adonai, because every one of you has been against his own son and against his own kinsman, in order to bring a blessing on yourselves today.”

³⁰ The next day Moshe said to the people, “You have committed a terrible sin. Now I will go up to Adonai ; maybe I will be able to atone for your sin.” ³¹ Moshe went back to Adonai and said, “Please! These people have committed a terrible sin: they have made themselves a god out of gold. ³² Now, if you will just forgive their sin! But if you won’t, then, I beg you, blot me out of your book which you have written!” ³³ Adonai answered Moshe, “Those who have sinned against me are the ones I will blot out of my book. ³⁴ Now go and lead the people to the place I told you about; my angel will go ahead of you. Nevertheless, the time for punishment will come; and then I will punish them for their sin.” ³⁵ Adonai struck the people with a plague because they had made the calf, the one Aharon made.

33 Adonai said to Moshe, “Leave, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt; and move on from here toward the land of which I swore to Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ² I will send an angel ahead of you; and I will drive out the Kena‘ani, Emori, Hitti, P’rizi, Hivi and Y’vusi. ³ You will go to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I myself will not go with you, because you are such a stiffnecked people that I might destroy you on the way.” ⁴ When the people heard this bad news, they went into mourning; and no one wore his ornaments. ⁵ Adonai said to Moshe, “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘You are a stiffnecked people! If I were to go up with you for even one moment, I would exterminate you! Now, keep your ornaments off; then I will decide what to do to you.’” ⁶ So from Mount Horev onward, the people of Isra’el stripped themselves of their ornaments.

⁷ Moshe would take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far away from the camp. He called it the tent of meeting. Everyone who wanted to consult Adonai would go out to the tent of meeting, outside the camp. ⁸ Whenever Moshe went out to the tent, all the people would get up and stand, each man at his tent door, and look at Moshe until he had gone into the tent. ⁹ Whenever Moshe entered the tent, the column of cloud would descend and station itself at the entrance to the tent; and Adonai would speak with Moshe. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the column of cloud stationed at the entrance to the tent, they would get up and prostrate themselves, each man at his tent door. ¹¹ Adonai would speak to Moshe face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then he would return to the camp; but the young man who was his assistant, Y’hoshua the son of Nun, never left the inside of the tent.

(iii) ¹² Moshe said to Adonai, “Look, you say to me, ‘Make these people move on!’ But you haven’t let me know whom you will be sending with me. Nevertheless you have said, ‘I know you by name,’ and also, ‘You have found favor in my sight.’ ¹³ Now, please, if it is really the case that I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways; so that I will understand you and continue finding favor in your sight. Moreover, keep on seeing this nation as your people.” ¹⁴ He answered, “Set your mind at rest — my presence will go with you, after all.” ¹⁵ Moshe replied, “If your presence doesn’t go with us, don’t make us go on from here. ¹⁶ For how else is it to be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, other than by your going with us? That is what distinguishes us, me and your people, from all the other peoples on earth.”

(iv) ¹⁷ Adonai said to Moshe, “I will also do what you have asked me to do, because you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” ¹⁸ But Moshe said, “I beg you to show me your glory!” ¹⁹ He replied, “I will cause all my goodness to pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce the name of Adonai. Moreover, I show favor to whomever I will, and I display mercy to whomever I will. ²⁰ But my face,” he continued, “you cannot see, because a human being cannot look at me and remain alive. ²¹ Here,” he said, “is a place near me; stand on the rock. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you inside a crevice in the rock and cover you with my hand, until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will remove my hand, and you will see my back, but my face is not to be seen.”