¹² The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain and stay there so that I may give you the stone tablets^(A) with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.’

¹³ So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua and went up the mountain of God.^{(B) 14} He told the elders, ‘Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Whoever has a dispute should go to them.’ ¹⁵ When Moses went up the mountain, the cloud^(C) covered it. ¹⁶ The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from the cloud.^{(D) 17} The appearance of the Lord’s glory to the Israelites was like a consuming fire^(E) on the mountaintop. ¹⁸ Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain, and he remained on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.^(F)

The Two Stone Tablets

¹⁸ When he finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets inscribed by the finger of God.^(A)

The Gold Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered round Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make gods^[a] for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt – we don’t know what has happened to him! ’^(B)

² Aaron replied to them, ‘Take off the gold rings^(C) that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.’ ³ So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf.

Then they said, ‘Israel, these are your gods,^[b] who brought you up from the land of Egypt! ’^(D)

⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it and made an announcement: ‘There will be a festival^(E) to the Lord tomorrow.’ ⁶ Early the next morning they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented fellowship offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party.^(F)

⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses: ‘Go down at once! For your people you brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly.^{(G) 8} They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them; they have made for themselves an image of a calf. They have bowed down to it, sacrificed to it, and said, “Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ’^{(H) 9} The Lord also said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked^(I) people. ¹⁰ Now leave me alone, so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.’^(J)

¹¹ But Moses sought the favour of the Lord his God: ‘Lord, why does your anger burn against your people you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, “He brought them out with an evil intent to kill them in the mountains and eliminate them from the face of the earth”? Turn from your fierce anger and relent concerning this disaster planned for your people.^{(K) 13} Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel – you swore to them by yourself^(L) and declared, “I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and will give your offspring all this land that I have promised, and they will inherit it for ever.” ’^{(M) 14} So the Lord relented^(N) concerning the disaster he had said he would bring on his people.

¹⁵ Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides – inscribed front and back. ¹⁶ The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was God’s writing, engraved on the tablets.^(O)

¹⁷ When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, ‘There is a sound of war in the camp.’

¹⁸ But Moses replied,

¹⁹ As he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became enraged and threw the tablets out of his hands, smashing them at the base of the mountain. ²⁰ He took the calf they had made, burned it up, and ground it to powder. He scattered the powder over the surface of the water and forced the Israelites to drink the water.

²¹ Then Moses asked Aaron, ‘What did these people do to you that you have led them into such a grave sin? ’

²² ‘Don’t be enraged, my lord,’ Aaron replied. ‘You yourself know that the people are intent on evil.^{(P) 23} They said to me, “Make gods for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt – we don’t know what has happened to him! ” ²⁴ So I said to them, “Whoever has gold, take it off,” and they gave it to me. When I threw it into the fire, out came this calf! ’

²⁵ Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them get out of control, making them a laughing-stock to their enemies.^{[c] 26} And Moses stood at the camp’s entrance and said, ‘Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.’ And all the Levites gathered round him. ²⁷ He told them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, “Every man fasten his sword to his side; go back and forth through the camp from entrance to entrance, and each of you kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbour.” ’^{(Q) 28} The Levites did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand men fell dead that day among the people. ²⁹ Afterwards Moses said, ‘Today you have been dedicated^[d] to the Lord, since each man went against his son and his brother. Therefore you have brought a blessing on yourselves today.’^(R)

³⁰ The following day Moses said to the people, ‘You have committed a grave sin. Now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I will be able to atone for your sin.’^(S)

³¹ So Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘Oh, these people have committed a grave sin; they have made a god of gold for themselves.^{(T) 32} Now if you would only forgive their sin. But if not, please erase me from the book you have written.’^(U)

³³ The Lord replied to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against me I will erase from my book.^{(V) 34} Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about; see, my angel will go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will hold them accountable for their sin.’^{(W) 35} And the Lord inflicted a plague on the people for what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

New Stone Tablets

34 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.^{(A) 2} Be prepared by morning. Come up Mount Sinai in the morning and stand before me on the mountaintop. ³ No one may go up with you; in fact, no one should be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.’^(B)

⁴ Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning, and taking the two stone tablets in his hand, he climbed Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him.

⁵ The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, ‘the Lord.’ ⁶ The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:

The Lord – the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth,^{(C) 7} maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin.^(D) But he will not leave the guilty^(E) unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

²⁸ Moses was there with the Lord for forty days and forty nights; he did not eat food or drink water. He wrote the Ten Commandments,^(A) the words of the covenant, on the tablets.

Moses’s Radiant Face

²⁹ As Moses descended from Mount Sinai – with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands as he descended the mountain – he did not realise that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with the Lord.^{[a](B) 30} When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone!^(C) They were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called out to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. ³² Afterwards all the Israelites came near, and he commanded them to do everything the Lord had told him on Mount Sinai. ³³ When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.