⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(A)“Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt ^(B)have corrupted themselves. ⁸ They have turned aside quickly out of the way which ^(C)I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ^(D)‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ ” ⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(E)“I have seen this people, and indeed it is a ^[a]stiff-necked people! ¹⁰ Now therefore, ^(F)let Me alone, that ^(G)My wrath may burn hot against them and I may ^[b]consume them. And ^(H)I will make of you a great nation.”

^11 (I)Then Moses pleaded with ^[c]the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ^12 (J)Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and ^(K)relent from this harm to Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You ^(L)swore by Your own self, and said to them, ^(M)‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” ¹⁴ So the Lord ^(N)relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.

¹⁵ And ^(O)Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. ¹⁶ Now the ^(P)tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.

¹⁷ And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.”

¹⁸ But he said:

¹⁹ So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that ^(Q)he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. ^20 (R)Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it. ²¹ And Moses said to Aaron, ^(S)“What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?”

²² So Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. ^(T)You know the people, that they are set on evil. ²³ For they said to me, ‘Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of 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 break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out.”

²⁵ Now when Moses saw that the people were ^(U)unrestrained (for Aaron ^(V)had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), ²⁶ then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side—come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. ²⁷ And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and ^(W)let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ ” ²⁸ So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day. ^29 (X)Then Moses said, ^[d]“Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother.”

³⁰ Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, ^(Y)“You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; ^(Z)perhaps I can ^(AA)make atonement for your sin.” ³¹ Then Moses ^(AB)returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have ^(AC)made for themselves a god of gold! ³² Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, ^(AD)blot me ^(AE)out of Your book which You have written.”

³³ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(AF)“Whoever has sinned against Me, I will ^(AG)blot him out of My book. ³⁴ Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have ^(AH)spoken to you. ^(AI)Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, ^(AJ)in the day when I ^(AK)visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.”

³⁵ So the Lord plagued the people because of ^(AL)what they did with the calf which Aaron made.

The Promise of God’s Presence

¹² Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, ^(A)You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ^(B)‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ ¹³ Now therefore, I pray, ^(C)if I have found grace in Your sight, ^(D)show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is ^(E)Your people.”

¹⁴ And He said, ^(F)“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you ^(G)rest.”

¹⁵ Then he said to Him, ^(H)“If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. ¹⁶ For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, ^(I)except You go with us? So we ^(J)shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”

¹⁷ So the Lord said to Moses, ^(K)“I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”