Exodus 32
New King James Version
The Gold Calf(A)
32 Now when the people saw that Moses (B)delayed coming down from the mountain, the people (C)gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, (D)“Come, make us [a]gods that shall (E)go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who (F)brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
2 And Aaron said to them, “Break off the (G)golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 (H)And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf.
Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that (I)brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
5 So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a (J)proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.” 6 Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people (K)sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
7 And the Lord said to Moses, (L)“Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt (M)have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which (N)I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, (O)‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ ” 9 And the Lord said to Moses, (P)“I have seen this people, and indeed it is a [b]stiff-necked people! 10 Now therefore, (Q)let Me alone, that (R)My wrath may burn hot against them and I may [c]consume them. And (S)I will make of you a great nation.”
11 (T)Then Moses pleaded with [d]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 (U)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 (V)relent from this harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You (W)swore by Your own self, and said to them, (X)‘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 (Y)relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.
15 And (Z)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 (AA)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:
“It is not the noise of the shout of victory,
Nor the noise of the cry of defeat,
But the sound of singing I hear.”
19 So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that (AB)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 (AC)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, (AD)“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. (AE)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 (AF)unrestrained (for Aaron (AG)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 (AH)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 (AI)Then Moses said, [e]“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, (AJ)“You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; (AK)perhaps I can (AL)make atonement for your sin.” 31 Then Moses (AM)returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have (AN)made for themselves a god of gold! 32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, (AO)blot me (AP)out of Your book which You have written.”
33 And the Lord said to Moses, (AQ)“Whoever has sinned against Me, I will (AR)blot him out of My book. 34 Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have (AS)spoken to you. (AT)Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, (AU)in the day when I (AV)visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.”
35 So the Lord plagued the people because of (AW)what they did with the calf which Aaron made.
Footnotes
- Exodus 32:1 Or a god
- Exodus 32:9 stubborn
- Exodus 32:10 destroy
- Exodus 32:11 Lit. the face of the Lord
- Exodus 32:29 Lit. Fill your hand
Éxodo 32
La Palabra (Hispanoamérica)
32 Viendo el pueblo que Moisés tardaba en bajar del monte, se presentaron en masa ante Aarón y le dijeron:
— Anda, haznos un dios que nos guíe pues no sabemos qué le habrá pasado a ese Moisés, el hombre que nos sacó de Egipto.
2 Aarón les respondió:
— Quítenles los pendientes de oro que llevan en las orejas sus mujeres, hijos e hijas, y tráiganmelos.
3 Todos se quitaron los pendientes de oro de las orejas y se los llevaron a Aarón; 4 este los recibió de sus manos e hizo con el oro fundido un becerro modelado a cincel. Entonces ellos exclamaron:
— ¡Israel, este es tu dios, el que te sacó de Egipto!
5 Cuando Aarón vio esto, construyó un altar delante del becerro y proclamó:
— Mañana será un día de fiesta en honor del Señor.
6 Al día siguiente madrugaron y ofrecieron holocaustos y sacrificios de comunión. Después se sentaron a comer y beber y, al finalizar, se levantaron a divertirse. 7 El Señor dijo a Moisés:
— Desciende del monte, porque tu pueblo, el que tú sacaste de Egipto, se ha pervertido. 8 Muy pronto se han apartado del camino que yo les había indicado. Se han fabricado un becerro de metal al que adoran y ofrecen sacrificios al tiempo que proclaman: “¡Israel, este es tu dios, el que te sacó de Egipto!”.
9 El Señor continuó diciendo:
— Me estoy dando cuenta de que este pueblo es muy testarudo. 10 Déjame, pues, que descargue mi ira contra ellos y los aniquile. Y tú serás el que dé origen a una gran nación.
11 Entonces Moisés intentó aplacar el furor del Señor, su Dios, diciendo:
— Señor, ¿por qué vas a descargar tu ira contra tu pueblo, el mismo en favor del que hiciste uso de tu gran fuerza y poder para sacarlo de Egipto? 12 ¿Acaso vas a permitir que los egipcios digan: “Con malos fines los sacó Dios; lo hizo para matarlos en las montañas y borrarlos de la faz de la tierra”? No te dejes llevar por la ira y renuncia al castigo que pensabas para tu pueblo. 13 Acuérdate de tus siervos Abrahán, Isaac e Israel, a quienes hiciste solemne promesa diciendo: “Multiplicaré su descendencia como las estrellas del cielo y daré a sus descendientes como herencia perpetua la tierra de la que les he hablado”.
14 Entonces el Señor renunció a aplicar el castigo con que había amenazado a su pueblo.
15 Moisés se volvió y descendió del monte trayendo en sus manos las dos losas del testimonio. Estaban escritas por ambos lados, por delante y por detrás. 16 Las losas y la escritura que había grabada en ellas eran obra de Dios.
17 Cuando Josué escuchó el griterío del pueblo, dijo a Moisés:
— Se escuchan gritos de guerra en el campamento.
18 Y Moisés respondió:
— No son gritos de victoria ni de derrota; lo que estoy oyendo son cantos festivos.
19 Cuando llegó Moisés al campamento y vio el becerro y las danzas, se enfureció y arrojó al pie del monte las losas que llevaba en sus manos, haciéndolas añicos. 20 Agarró el becerro que habían fabricado, lo arrojó al fuego y, una vez convertido en ceniza, lo disolvió en agua y obligó a los israelitas a que bebieran esa agua.
21 Y dijo a Aarón:
— ¿Se puede saber qué te hizo este pueblo para que le indujeras a cometer un acto tan aberrante?
22 Aarón respondió:
— Señor mío, no te enfades contra mí; tú sabes que este pueblo es proclive al mal. 23 Me dijeron: “Haznos un dios que nos guíe, pues no sabemos qué le habrá pasado a ese Moisés, el hombre que nos sacó de Egipto”. 24 Yo les contesté: “El que tenga oro, que se desprenda de él”. Ellos me lo entregaron, yo lo eché al fuego ¡y salió este becerro!
25 Se percató Moisés de que el pueblo estaba descontrolado, pues Aarón no le había puesto freno, y ahora el pueblo estaba expuesto a las burlas de sus enemigos. 26 Entonces Moisés se plantó en la puerta del campamento y gritó:
— ¡Que se pongan a mi lado los que están de parte del Señor!
Y todos los levitas se le unieron.
27 Él les dijo:
— Así ha dicho el Señor, el Dios de Israel: Que cada uno se ciña su espada al muslo, recorra el campamento y vaya de puerta en puerta matando a los culpables sin tener en cuenta si es su hermano, su amigo o su vecino.
28 Los levitas cumplieron la orden de Moisés y aquel día murieron unos tres mil hombres del pueblo. 29 Moisés les dijo:
— Hoy el Señor los bendice y los constituye sus sacerdotes, pues lo han preferido a sus propios hijos y hermanos.
Intercesión de Moisés
30 Al día siguiente Moisés dijo al pueblo:
— Han cometido un pecado gravísimo; no obstante voy a subir adonde está el Señor, a ver si logro que los perdone.
31 Volvió Moisés adonde estaba el Señor, y le dijo:
— Sin duda que este pueblo ha cometido un gran pecado al hacerse un dios de oro. 32 Pero te ruego que les perdones su pecado; si no lo haces, bórrame del libro donde nos tienes inscritos.
33 Pero el Señor le contestó:
— Al que haya pecado contra mí, lo borraré del libro. 34 Tú lleva al pueblo al lugar que te dije. Mi ángel te irá guiando. Y llegado el momento les pediré cuentas por su pecado.
35 Y el Señor castigó al pueblo por haber adorado al becerro de oro fabricado por Aarón.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
La Palabra, (versión hispanoamericana) © 2010 Texto y Edición, Sociedad Bíblica de España