Exodus 32
Legacy Standard Bible
The Golden Calf
32 Then the people saw that Moses (A)delayed to come down from the mountain. So the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Arise, (B)make us [a]gods who will go before us; as for (C)this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 And 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 Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he took this from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a (E)molten calf; and they said, “[b]These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 5 And Aaron looked and built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh.” 6 So the next day they rose early and (F)offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and (G)the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up (H)to play.
7 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go! Go down at once, for your people, whom (I)you brought up from the land of Egypt, have (J)corrupted themselves. 8 They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. (K)They have made for themselves a molten calf and have worshiped it and (L)have sacrificed to it and said, ‘[c](M)These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” 9 (N)And Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are (O)a stiff-necked people. 10 Now then (P)let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may consume them; and (Q)I will make you a great nation.”
11 Then (R)Moses entreated [d]the favor of Yahweh his God and said, “O Yahweh, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand? 12 Why should (S)the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent concerning doing harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You (T)swore by Yourself, and You said to them, ‘I will (U)multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and (V)all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 (W)So Yahweh relented concerning the harm which He said He would do to His people.
15 (X)Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain. And the two tablets of the testimony were in his hand, (Y)tablets which were written on both [e]sides; they were written on one side and the other. 16 Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. 17 Then Joshua heard the sound of the people [f]as they shouted. And he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” 18 But he said,
“It is not the sound of the cry of triumph,
Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat;
But the sound of singing I hear.”
19 Now it happened, as soon as [g]Moses came near the camp, that (Z)he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and (AA)he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them [h]at the foot of the mountain. 20 (AB)Then he took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.
21 Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?” 22 And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, (AC)that they are [i]prone to evil. 23 Indeed (AD)they said to me, ‘Make [j]gods for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from 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 tear it off.’ So they gave it to me, and (AE)I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
25 Now Moses saw that the people were [k]out of control—for Aaron had (AF)let them [l]get out of control to be a derision among [m]their enemies— 26 so Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is for Yahweh, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. 27 And he said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Every man among you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother and every man his friend and every man his [n]neighbor.’” 28 So (AG)the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. 29 Then Moses said, “[o]Be ordained today to Yahweh—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.”
30 Now it happened on the next day, that Moses said to the people, “(AH)You yourselves have [p]committed a great sin; but now I am going up to Yahweh, perhaps I can (AI)make atonement for your sin.” 31 Then Moses returned to Yahweh and said, “Alas, this people has [q]committed a great sin, and they have made [r](AJ)gods of gold for themselves. 32 But now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out from Your (AK)book which You have written!” 33 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, (AL)I will blot him out of My book. 34 But now go, guide the people (AM)where I told you. Behold, (AN)My angel shall go before you; nevertheless (AO)in the day when I [s]punish, (AP)I will [t]punish them for their sin.” 35 (AQ)Then Yahweh smote the people because of (AR)what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Exodus 32:1 Or a god
- Exodus 32:4 Or This is your god
- Exodus 32:8 Or This is your god
- Exodus 32:11 Lit the face of Yahweh
- Exodus 32:15 Lit their sides
- Exodus 32:17 Lit in its shouting
- Exodus 32:19 Lit he
- Exodus 32:19 Lit beneath
- Exodus 32:22 Lit in evil
- Exodus 32:23 Or a god
- Exodus 32:25 Lit let loose
- Exodus 32:25 Lit go loose
- Exodus 32:25 Lit those who rise against them
- Exodus 32:27 Or kin
- Exodus 32:29 Lit Fill your hand
- Exodus 32:30 Lit sinned
- Exodus 32:31 Lit sinned
- Exodus 32:31 Or a god
- Exodus 32:34 Lit visit
- Exodus 32:34 Lit visit their sin upon them
Exodus 32
Christian Standard Bible
The Gold Calf
32 When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around 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!” (A)
2 Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings(B) 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!” (C)
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it and made an announcement: “There will be a festival(D) 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.(E)
7 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Go down at once! For your people you brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly.(F) 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.’”(G) 9 The Lord also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked(H) 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.”(I)
11 But Moses sought the favor 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.(J) 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel—you swore to them by yourself(K) 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 forever.’”(L) 14 So the Lord relented(M) 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.(N)
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,
It’s not the sound of a victory cry
and not the sound of a cry of defeat;
I hear the sound of singing!
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.(O) 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 laughingstock 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 around 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 neighbor.’”(P) 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand men fell dead that day among the people. 29 Afterward 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.”(Q)
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.”(R)
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.(S) 32 Now if you would only forgive their sin. But if not, please erase me from the book you have written.”(T)
33 The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will erase from my book.(U) 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.”(V) 35 And the Lord inflicted a plague on the people for what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
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