The Golden Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”^{(A) 2} Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.”^{(B) 3} So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took these from them, formed them in a mold,^[a] and cast an image of a calf, and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”^{(C) 5} When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” ⁶ They rose early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being, and the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to revel.^(D)

⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely;^{(E) 8} they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ”^{(F) 9} The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are.^{(G) 10} Now let me alone so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, and of you I will make a great nation.”^(H)

¹¹ But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?^{(I) 12} Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people.^{(J) 13} Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”^{(K) 14} And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.^(L)

¹⁵ Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, tablets that were written on both sides, written on the front and on the back.^{(M) 16} The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets.^{(N) 17} 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 As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’s anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.^{(O) 20} He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.^(P)

The Tabernacle Erected and Its Equipment Installed

40 The Lord spoke to Moses, ² “On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.^{(A) 3} You shall put in it the ark of the covenant, and you shall screen the ark with the curtain.^{(B) 4} You shall bring in the table and arrange its setting, and you shall bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps. ⁵ You shall put the golden altar for incense before the ark of the covenant and set up the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle. ⁶ You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting ⁷ and place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it. ⁸ You shall set up the court all around and hang up the screen for the gate of the court. ⁹ Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it and consecrate it and all its furniture, so that it shall become holy.^{(C) 10} You shall also anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils and consecrate the altar, so that the altar shall be most holy.^{(D) 11} You shall also anoint the basin with its stand and consecrate it. ¹² Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water^{(E) 13} and put on Aaron the sacred vestments, and you shall anoint him and consecrate him, so that he may serve me as priest.^{(F) 14} You shall bring his sons also and put tunics on them ¹⁵ and anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests; their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout all their generations.”^(G)

¹⁶ Moses did everything just as the Lord had commanded him. ¹⁷ In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was set up. ¹⁸ Moses set up the tabernacle; he laid its bases and set up its frames and put in its poles and raised up its pillars, ¹⁹ and he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent over it as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁰ He took the covenant and put it into the ark and put the poles on the ark and set the cover above the ark,^{(H) 21} and he brought the ark into the tabernacle and set up the curtain for screening and screened the ark of the covenant as the Lord had commanded Moses.^{(I) 22} He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the curtain,^{(J) 23} and set the bread in order on it before the Lord as the Lord had commanded Moses.^{(K) 24} He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, ²⁵ and set up the lamps before the Lord as the Lord had commanded Moses.^{(L) 26} He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the curtain^{(M) 27} and offered fragrant incense on it as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁸ He also put in place the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle.^{(N) 29} He set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³⁰ He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing,^{(O) 31} with which Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. ³² When they went into the tent of meeting and when they approached the altar, they washed as the Lord had commanded Moses.^{(P) 33} He set up the court around the tabernacle and the altar and put up the screen at the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.

The Cloud and the Glory

³⁴ Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.^{(Q) 35} Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁶ Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey,^{(R) 37} but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. ³⁸ For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud^[a] by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.^(S)