The Golden Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses ^(A)delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ^(B)“Up, make us gods who shall ^(C)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.” ² So Aaron said to them, “Take off the ^(D)rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ^4 (E)And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden^[a] calf. And they said, ^(F)“These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” ⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron ^(G)made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” ⁶ And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And ^(H)the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up ^(I)to play.

⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(J)“Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have ^(K)corrupted themselves. ⁸ They have turned aside quickly out of the way that ^(L)I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden 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!’” ⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, ^(M)it is a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰ Now therefore ^(N)let me alone, that ^(O)my wrath may burn hot against them and ^(P)I may consume them, in order that ^(Q)I may make a great nation of you.”

¹¹ But ^(R)Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O 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 (S)Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and ^(T)relent from this disaster against your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you ^(U)swore by your own self, and said to them, ^(V)‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ¹⁴ And the Lord ^(W)relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

Idolatry Forbidden

^15 (A)“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since ^(B)you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, ¹⁶ beware ^(C)lest you act corruptly ^(D)by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, ^(E)the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷ the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸ the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. ¹⁹ And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see ^(F)the sun and the moon and the stars, ^(G)all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. ²⁰ But the Lord has taken you and ^(H)brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, ^(I)to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.