Exodus

32 And the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain; and the people assembled about Aaron and said to him “Get to work and make us gods that may go before us, because we do not know what has happened to this Moses, the man that brought us up out of Egypt.” 2* And Aaron said to them “Strip off the gold earrings your wives and children have in their ears and bring them to me.” 3 And all the people stripped off the gold earrings they had in their ears and brought them to Aaron; 4* and he took these from their hands and shaped it with a chisel and made it a cast-metal calf, and they said “These are your gods, Israel, that brought you up out of Egypt.” 5 And Aaron saw this and built an altar before it, and proclaimed “There is a feast to Jehovah tomorrow.” 6 And the first thing next morning they offered burnt-offerings and brought up welfare-sacrifices, and the people sat down to eat and drink and rose to play.

7 And Jehovah spoke to Moses: “Go down and go, because your people that you brought up out of Egypt have turned vicious, 8** they have gone off at once from the course I enjoined on them, they have made themselves a cast-metal calf and done reverence to it and sacrificed to it and said ‘These are your gods, Israel, that brought you up out of Egypt.’ 9 —— 10* Now let me be and let my anger break out at them, and I will exterminate them and make you a great-people.” 11 But Moses propitiated God and said “Jehovah, why should your anger break out against your people whom you have brought out of Egypt with great power and strong hand? 12 why should the Egyptians say ‘It was for mischief he brought them out, to kill them among the mountains and to exterminate them off the face of the earth’? Turn back from your anger and repent of the mischief to your people. 13 Remember for your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel what you swore to them by yourself and promised them, ‘I will make your descendants numerous as the stars in the sky, and all this country that I have mentioned I will give to your descendants and they shall occupy it forever.’” 14 And Jehovah repented of the mischief he had threatened to do to his people.

15 And Moses turned and went down off the mountain with the two tablets of the Lessons in his hands, tablets written on both faces: they were written on this aide and on that; and the tablets were God’s work, 16 and the writing was God’s writing, cut on the tablets. 17* And Joshuaʽ heard the sound of the people cheering, and said to Moses “There is a sound of fighting in the camp.” 18* But he said “It is no sound of voices in struggle nor of voices succumbing, what I hear is a sound of singing.” 19 And when he neared the camp and saw the calf and dancing Moses was angry, and threw the tablets out of his hands and smashed them under the mountain; 20 and he took the calf they had made and burned it up and ground it to a powder and sprinkled it on the water and had the sons of Israel drink it. 21 And Moses said to Aaron “What had this people done to you that you brought a great sin upon them?” 22 and Aaron said “Do not be angry, sir; you know this people is evil-disposed, 23 and they said to me ‘Make us gods that will go before us, because we do not know what has happened to this Moses, the man that brought us up out of Egypt.’ 24 And I said to them ‘Who has any gold? strip it off’; and they gave it to me, and I threw it in the fire, and this calf came out.”

25* And Moses saw the people were demoralized, because Aaron had demoralized them to be a butt among those who should stand up against them; 26 and Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said “Whoever is for Jehovah, come here to me!” and all the sons of Levi came there to him. 27 And he said to them “Says Israel’s God Jehovah, Put your swords at your sides; go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp and each kill his brother and friend and neighbor.” 28 And the sons of Levi did as Moses said, and there fell of the people on that day about three thousand men. 29* And Moses said “Do your devoir today for Jehovah, because it must be at the price of each man’s son and brother that you are to be given a blessing.”

30 And the next day Moses said to the people “You have committed a great sin; now I will go up to Jehovah, perhaps I may purge your sin.” 31 And Moses went back to Jehovah and said “Ah, this people have committed a great sin and made themselves gold gods. 32 But now if you forgive their sin—but if not, blot me out from your book that you have written.” 33 And Jehovah said to Moses “Whoever has sinned against me, him I will blot out from my book. 34 Now go, lead the people where I told you; here shall my Angel go before you; but on my day for punishing I will punish them for their sin.” 35 And Jehovah smote the people for their making the calf Aaron made.