¹⁰ Now then ^(A)let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may consume them; and ^(B)I will make you a great nation.”

¹¹ Then ^(C)Moses entreated ^[a]the favor of Yahweh his God and said, “O Yahweh, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand? ¹² Why should ^(D)the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent concerning doing harm to Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You ^(E)swore by Yourself, and You said to them, ‘I will ^(F)multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and ^(G)all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ^14 (H)So Yahweh relented concerning the harm which He said He would do to His people.

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

¹⁹ Now it happened, as soon as ^[d]Moses came near the camp, that ^(K)he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and ^(L)he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them ^[e]at the foot of the mountain. ^20 (M)Then he took the calf which they had made and 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 great sin upon them?” ²² And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, ^(N)that they are ^[f]prone to evil. ²³ Indeed ^(O)they said to me, ‘Make ^[g]gods 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 has become of him.’ ²⁴ And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ So they gave it to me, and ^(P)I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

²⁵ Now Moses saw that the people were ^[h]out of control—for Aaron had ^(Q)let them ^[i]get out of control to be a derision among ^[j]their enemies— ²⁶ so Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is for Yahweh, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. ²⁷ And he said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Every man among you put his sword upon 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 ^[k]neighbor.’” ²⁸ So ^(R)the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. ²⁹ Then Moses said, “^[l]Be ordained today to Yahweh—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.”

³⁰ Now it happened on the next day, that Moses said to the people, “^(S)You yourselves have ^[m]committed a great sin; but now I am going up to Yahweh, perhaps I can ^(T)make atonement for your sin.” ³¹ Then Moses returned to Yahweh and said, “Alas, this people has ^[n]committed a great sin, and they have made ^[o](U)gods of gold for themselves. ³² But now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out from Your ^(V)book which You have written!” ³³ And Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, ^(W)I will blot him out of My book. ³⁴ But now go, guide the people ^(X)where I told you. Behold, ^(Y)My angel shall go before you; nevertheless ^(Z)in the day when I ^[p]punish, ^(AA)I will ^[q]punish them for their sin.” ^35 (AB)Then Yahweh smote the people because of ^(AC)what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.

²¹ And so terrible was what appeared, that Moses said, “^(A)I am full of fear and trembling.”