Ezekiel 20:36
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
36 As I entered into judgment with your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, says the Lord God.(A)
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1 Corinthians 10:5-10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.(A)
6 Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did.(B) 7 Do not become idolaters as some of them did, as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.”(C) 8 We must not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.(D) 9 We must not put Christ[a] to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents.(E) 10 And do not complain, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.(F)
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- 10.9 Other ancient authorities read the Lord
Numbers 11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Complaining in the Desert
11 Now when the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, the Lord heard it, and his anger was kindled. Then the fire of the Lord burned against them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.(A) 2 But the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire abated.(B) 3 So that place was called Taberah,[a] because the fire of the Lord burned against them.
4 The camp followers with them had a strong craving, and the Israelites also wept again and said, “If only we had meat to eat!(C) 5 We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic,(D) 6 but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”(E)
7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color was like the color of gum resin.(F) 8 The people went around and gathered it, ground it in mills or beat it in mortars, then boiled it in pots and made cakes of it, and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. 9 When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna would fall with it.(G)
10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased.(H) 11 So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a wet nurse carries a nursing child, to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors’?(I) 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat!’(J) 14 I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me.(K) 15 If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favor in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.”(L)
The Seventy Elders
16 So the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting and have them take their place there with you.(M) 17 I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself.(N) 18 And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wailed in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “If only we had meat to eat! Surely it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat.(O) 19 You shall eat not only one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days,(P) 20 but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you—because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ” 21 But Moses said, “The people I am with number six hundred thousand on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month’! 22 Are there enough flocks and herds to slaughter for them? Are there enough fish in the sea to catch for them?”(Q) 23 The Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s power limited?[b] Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”(R)
24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered seventy of the elders of the people and placed them all around the tent.(S) 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders, and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.(T)
26 Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, so they prophesied in the camp.(U) 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men,[c] said, “My lord Moses, stop them!”(V) 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!”(W) 30 And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.
The Quails
31 Then a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quails from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, about two cubits deep on the ground.(X) 32 So the people worked all that day and night and all the next day gathering the quails; the least anyone gathered was ten homers, and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.(Y) 34 So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah,[d] because there they buried the people who had the craving.(Z) 35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth.(AA)
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Ezekiel 20:21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
21 But the children rebelled against me; they did not follow my statutes and were not careful to observe my ordinances, by whose observance everyone shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths.
Then I thought I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness.(A)
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Ezekiel 20:13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not observe my statutes but rejected my ordinances, by whose observance everyone shall live, and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned.
Then I thought I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to make an end of them.(A)
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Psalm 106:15-48
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
15 he gave them what they asked
but sent a wasting disease among them.(A)
16 They were jealous of Moses in the camp
and of Aaron, the holy one of the Lord.(B)
17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan
and covered the faction of Abiram.(C)
18 Fire also broke out in their company;
the flame burned up the wicked.(D)
19 They made a calf at Horeb
and worshiped a cast image.(E)
20 They exchanged the glory of God[a]
for the image of an ox that eats grass.(F)
21 They forgot God, their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt,(G)
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.[b](H)
23 Therefore he said he would destroy them—
had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him,
to turn away his wrath from destroying them.(I)
24 Then they despised the pleasant land,
having no faith in his promise.(J)
25 They grumbled in their tents
and did not obey the voice of the Lord.(K)
26 Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them
that he would make them fall in the wilderness(L)
27 and would disperse[c] their descendants among the nations,
scattering them over the lands.(M)
28 Then they attached themselves to the Baal of Peor
and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;(N)
29 they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds,
and a plague broke out among them.
30 Then Phinehas stood up and interceded,
and the plague was stopped.(O)
31 And that has been reckoned to him as righteousness
from generation to generation forever.(P)
32 They angered the Lord[d] at the waters of Meribah,
and it went ill with Moses on their account,(Q)
33 for they made his spirit bitter,
and he spoke words that were rash.(R)
34 They did not destroy the peoples,
as the Lord had commanded them,(S)
35 but they mingled with the nations
and learned to do as they did.(T)
36 They served their idols,
which became a snare to them.(U)
37 They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to the demons;(V)
38 they poured out innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was polluted with blood.(W)
39 Thus they became unclean by their acts
and prostituted themselves in their doings.(X)
40 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he abhorred his heritage;(Y)
41 he gave them into the hand of the nations,
so that those who hated them ruled over them.(Z)
42 Their enemies oppressed them,
and they were brought into subjection under their power.
43 Many times he delivered them,
but they were rebellious in their purposes
and were brought low through their iniquity.(AA)
44 Nevertheless, he regarded their distress
when he heard their cry.(AB)
45 For their sake he remembered his covenant
and showed compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.(AC)
46 He caused them to be pitied
by all who held them captive.(AD)
47 Save us, O Lord our God,
and gather us from among the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name
and glory in your praise.(AE)
48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
And let all the people say, “Amen.”
Praise the Lord!(AF)
Numbers 25
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Worship of Baal of Peor
25 While Israel was staying at Shittim, the people began to have sexual relations with the women of Moab.(A) 2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.(B) 3 Thus Israel yoked itself to the Baal of Peor, and the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel.(C) 4 The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and impale them in the sun before the Lord, in order that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”(D) 5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you shall kill any of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”
6 Just then one of the Israelites came and brought a Midianite woman into his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the Israelites, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he got up and left the congregation. Taking a spear in his hand,(E) 8 he went after the Israelite man into the tent and pierced the two of them, the Israelite and the woman, through the belly. So the plague was stopped among the Israelites. 9 Nevertheless those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.(F)
10 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the Israelites by manifesting such zeal among them on my behalf that in my jealousy I did not consume the Israelites.(G) 12 Therefore say, ‘I hereby grant him my covenant of peace.(H) 13 It shall be for him and for his descendants after him a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.’ ”(I)
14 The name of the slain Israelite man who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, head of an ancestral house belonging to the Simeonites. 15 The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi daughter of Zur, who was the head of a clan, an ancestral house in Midian.(J)
16 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Harass the Midianites, and defeat them,(K) 18 for they have harassed you by the trickery with which they deceived you in the affair of Peor, and in the affair of Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister; she was killed on the day of the plague that resulted from Peor.”(L)
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Numbers 16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Revolt of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram
16 Now Korah son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth son[a] of Reuben, took(A) 2 two hundred fifty Israelite men, leaders of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men, and they confronted Moses.(B) 3 They assembled against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! All the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. So why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”(C) 4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face.(D) 5 Then he spoke to Korah and all his congregation, saying, “In the morning the Lord will make known who is his and who is holy and who will be allowed to approach him; the one whom he will choose he will allow to approach him.(E) 6 Do this: take censers, Korah and all your[b] congregation, 7 and tomorrow put fire in them, and lay incense on them before the Lord, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You Levites have gone too far!” 8 Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you Levites! 9 Is it too little for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to allow you to approach him in order to perform the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle and to stand before the congregation and serve them?(F) 10 He has allowed you to approach him, and all your brother Levites with you, yet you seek the priesthood as well! 11 Therefore you and all your congregation have gathered together against the Lord. What is Aaron that you rail against him?”(G)
12 Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! 13 Is it too little that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also lord it over us?(H) 14 It is clear you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Would you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come!”(I)
15 Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Pay no attention to their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed any one of them.”(J) 16 And Moses said to Korah, “As for you and all your congregation, be present tomorrow before the Lord, you and they and Aaron,(K) 17 and let each one of you take his censer and put incense on it and each one of you present his censer before the Lord, two hundred fifty censers, you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” 18 So each man took his censer, and they put fire in the censers and laid incense on them, and they stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 Then Korah assembled the whole congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole congregation.(L)
20 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 21 “Separate yourselves from this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment.”(M) 22 They fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one person sin and you become angry with the whole congregation?”(N)
23 And the Lord spoke to Moses: 24 “Speak to the congregation, saying: Get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” 25 So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He spoke to the congregation, saying, “Turn away from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs, or you will be swept away for all their sins.”(O) 27 So they got away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents, together with their wives, their children, and their little ones. 28 And Moses said, “This is how you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works; it has not been of my own accord:(P) 29 If these people die a natural death or if a natural fate comes on them, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”(Q)
31 As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground under them was split apart.(R) 32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households—everyone who belonged to Korah and all their goods.(S) 33 So they with all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol; the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. 34 All Israel around them fled at their outcry, for they said, “The earth will swallow us, too!” 35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred fifty men offering the incense.(T)
36 [c]Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 37 “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to take the censers out of the blaze, then scatter the fire far and wide. 38 For the censers of these sinners have become holy at the cost of their lives. Make them into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they presented them before the Lord and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the Israelites.”(U) 39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that had been presented by those who were burned, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar— 40 a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, shall approach to offer incense before the Lord, so as not to become like Korah and his congregation, just as the Lord had said to him through Moses.(V)
41 On the next day, however, the whole congregation of the Israelites rebelled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.”(W) 42 And when the congregation had assembled against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the tent of meeting; the cloud had covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.(X) 43 Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, 44 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Get away from this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces.(Y) 46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire on it from the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.”(Z) 47 So Aaron took it as Moses had ordered and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense and made atonement for the people.(AA) 48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.(AB) 49 Those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the affair of Korah.(AC) 50 When the plague was stopped, Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
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Numbers 14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The People Rebel
14 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron; the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!(A) 3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another, “Let us choose a captain and go back to Egypt.”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the Israelites.(B) 6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the Israelites, “The land that we went through as spies is an exceedingly good land.(C) 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.(D) 9 Only, do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are no more than bread for us; their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”(E) 10 But the whole congregation threatened to stone them.
Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.(F) 11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?(G) 12 I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”(H)
Moses Intercedes for the People
13 But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for in your might you brought up this people from among them,(I) 14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go in front of them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.(J) 15 Now if you kill this people as one, then the nations who have heard about you will say, 16 ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them that he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’(K) 17 And now, therefore, let the power of the Lord be great in the way that you promised when you spoke, saying,
18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger
and abounding in steadfast love,
forgiving iniquity and transgression,
but by no means clearing the guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the parents
upon the children
to the third and the fourth generation.’(L)
19 “Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now.”(M)
20 Then the Lord said, “I do forgive, just as you have asked;(N) 21 nevertheless, as I live and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord,(O) 22 none of the people who have seen my glory and the signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness and yet have tested me these ten times and have not obeyed my voice 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their ancestors; none of those who despised me shall see it. 24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me wholeheartedly, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.(P) 25 Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”[a](Q)
An Attempted Invasion Is Repulsed
26 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall this wicked congregation complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites, which they complain against me.(R) 28 Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘I will do to you the very things I heard you say:(S) 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this very wilderness, and of all your number included in the census from twenty years old and up who have complained against me,(T) 30 not one of you shall come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.(U) 31 But your little ones, who you said would become plunder, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have despised.(V) 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.(W) 33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness.(X) 34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’(Y) 35 I the Lord have spoken; surely I will do thus to all this wicked congregation gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”(Z)
36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report about the land,(AA) 37 the men who brought an unfavorable report about the land died by a plague before the Lord. 38 But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh alone remained alive, of those men who went to spy out the land.(AB)
39 When Moses told these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned greatly.(AC) 40 They rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.”(AD) 41 But Moses said, “Why do you continue to transgress the command of the Lord? That will not succeed. 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not with you; do not let yourselves be struck down before your enemies.(AE) 43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will confront you there, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” 44 But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, even though the ark of the covenant of the Lord and Moses had not left the camp.(AF) 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them, pursuing them as far as Hormah.(AG)
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- 14.25 Or Sea of Reeds
Exodus 32:7-35
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
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;(A) 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!’ ”(B) 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are.(C) 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.”(D)
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?(E) 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.(F) 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.’ ”(G) 14 And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.(H)
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.(I) 16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets.(J) 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,
“It is not the sound made by victors
or the sound made by losers;
it is the sound of singing that I hear.”
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.(K) 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.(L)
21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?”(M) 22 And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are wicked.(N) 23 They said to me, ‘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.’(O) 24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”(P)
25 When Moses saw that the people were out of control (for Aaron had lost control of them, prompting derision among their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 He said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Put your sword on your side, each of you! Go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill your brother, your friend, and your neighbor.”(Q) 28 The sons of Levi did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand of the people fell on that day. 29 Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of a son or a brother, and so have brought a blessing on yourselves this day.”
30 On the next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”(R) 31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold.(S) 32 But now, if you will only forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of the book that you have written.”(T) 33 But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book.(U) 34 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; see, my angel shall go in front of you. Nevertheless, when the day for punishment comes, I will punish them for their sin.”(V)
35 Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf—the one that Aaron had made.(W)
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