The Golden Calf

32 Now when the people saw that Moses ^(A)delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled around Aaron and said to him, “Come, ^(B)make us ^[a]a god who will go before us; for ^(C)this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.” ² Aaron said to them, “^(D)Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ Then he took the gold from their ^[b]hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a ^(E)cast metal calf; and they said, “^[c]This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ⁵ Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day they got up early and ^(F)offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and ^(G)the people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up ^(H)to engage in lewd behavior.

⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go ^[d]down at once, for your people, whom ^(I)you brought up from the land of Egypt, have ^(J)behaved corruptly. ⁸ They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. ^(K)They have made for themselves a cast metal calf, and have worshiped it and ^(L)have sacrificed to it and said, ‘^[e](M)This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” ^9 (N)Then the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are ^[f](O)an obstinate people. ¹⁰ So now ^(P)leave Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and ^(Q)I will make of you a great nation.”

Moses’ Plea

¹¹ Then ^(R)Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹² Why should ^(S)the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘With evil motives He brought them out, to kill them on the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent of doing harm to Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You ^(T)swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will ^(U)multiply your ^[g]descendants as the stars of the heavens, and ^(V)all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your ^[h]descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ^14 (W)So the Lord relented of the harm which He said He would do to His people.

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

Moses’ Anger

¹⁹ And it came about, as soon as ^[k]Moses approached the camp, that ^(Z)he saw the calf and the people dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and ^(AA)he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them to pieces ^[l]at the foot of the mountain.

³⁰ And on the next day Moses said to the people, “^(A)You yourselves have ^[a]committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the Lord; perhaps I can ^(B)make atonement for your sin.” ³¹ Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, this people has ^[b]committed a great sin, and they have made a ^(C)god of gold for themselves! ³² But now, if You will forgive their sin, very well; but if not, please wipe me out from Your ^(D)book which You have written!” ³³ However, the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, ^(E)I will wipe him out of My book.

Moses Intercedes

¹² Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘^(A)Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know ^(B)whom You will send with me. ^(C)Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ ¹³ Now then, if I have found favor in Your sight in any way, please ^(D)let me know Your ways so that I may know You, in order that I may find favor in Your sight. ^(E)Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴ And He said, “^(F)My presence shall go with you, and ^(G)I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ Then he said to Him, “^(H)If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. ¹⁶ For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that ^(I)we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are on the face of the ^[a]earth?”

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; ^(J)for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.”

The Two Tablets Replaced

34 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Cut out for yourself ^(A)two stone tablets like the former ones, and ^(B)I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you smashed. ² So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to ^(C)Mount Sinai, and ^[a]present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. ³ And ^(D)no one is to come up with you, nor let anyone be seen ^[b]anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and the herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.” ⁴ So he cut out ^(E)two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses got up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and he took the two stone tablets in his hand. ⁵ And ^(F)the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he ^[c]called upon the name of the Lord. ⁶ Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, ^(G)compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and ^[d]truth; ⁷ who ^(H)keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He ^(I)will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, ^(J)inflicting the ^[e]punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”