Exodus 32
32
The People Make a Gold Calf
1The people saw that a long time had passed and Moses had not come down from the mountain. So they gathered around Aaron and said, “Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don’t know what has happened to him. Make us gods who will lead us.”
2Aaron said to the people, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, sons, and daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3So all the people took their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4He took the gold from the people and formed it with a tool and made a statue of a calf. Then the people said, “Israel, these are your gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
5When Aaron saw all this, he built an altar before the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a special feast to honor the Lord.” 6The people got up early the next morning and offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. They sat down to eat and drink, and then they got up and sinned sexually.
7Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down from this mountain, because your people, the people you brought out of the land of Egypt, have ruined themselves. 8They have quickly turned away from the things I commanded them to do. They have made for themselves a calf covered with gold, and they have worshiped it and offered sacrifices to it. They have said, ‘Israel, these are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.’ ”
9The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and I know that they are very stubborn. 10So now do not stop me. I am so angry with them that I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you and your descendants a great nation.”
11But Moses begged the Lord his God and said, “Lord, don’t let your anger destroy your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with your great power and strength. 12Don’t let the people of Egypt say, ‘The Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt for an evil purpose. He planned to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the earth.’ So stop being angry, and don’t destroy your people. 13Remember the men who served you—Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. You promised with an oath to them and said, ‘I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky. I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised them, and it will be theirs forever.’ ” 14So the Lord changed his mind and did not destroy the people as he had said he might.
15Then Moses went down the mountain, and in his hands he had the two stone tablets with the Agreement on them. The commands were written on both sides of each stone, front and back. 16God himself had made the tablets, and God himself had written the commands on the tablets.
17When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “It sounds like war down in the camp.”
18Moses answered:
“It is not a shout of victory;
it is not a cry of defeat.
It is the sound of singing that I hear.”
19When Moses came close to the camp, he saw the gold calf and the dancing, and he became very angry. He threw down the stone tablets that he was carrying and broke them at the bottom of the mountain. 20Then he took the calf that the people had made and melted it in the fire. He ground it into powder. Then he threw the powder into the water and forced the Israelites to drink it.
21Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you? Why did you cause them to do such a terrible sin?”
22Aaron answered, “Don’t be angry, master. You know that these people are always ready to do wrong. 23The people said to me, ‘Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don’t know what has happened to him. Make us gods who will lead us.’ 24So I told the people, ‘Take off your gold jewelry.’ When they gave me the gold, I threw it into the fire and out came this calf!”
25Moses saw that the people were acting wildly. Aaron had let them get out of control and become fools in front of their enemies. 26So Moses stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Let anyone who wants to follow the Lord come to me.” And all the people from the family of Levi gathered around Moses.
27Then Moses said to them, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says this: ‘Every man must put on his sword and go through the camp from one end to the other. Each man must kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’ ” 28The people from the family of Levi obeyed Moses, and that day about three thousand of the Israelites died. 29Then Moses said, “Today you have been given for service to the Lord. You were willing to kill your own sons and brothers, and God has blessed you for this.”
30The next day Moses told the people, “You have done a terrible sin. But now I will go up to the Lord. Maybe I can do something so your sins will be removed.” 31So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “How terribly these people have sinned! They have made for themselves gods from gold. 32Now, please forgive them of this sin. If you will not, then erase my name from the book in which you have written the names of your people.”
33But the Lord told Moses, “I will erase from my book the names of the people who sin against me. 34So now, go. Lead the people where I have told you, and my angel will lead you. When the time comes to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
35So the Lord caused terrible things to happen to the people because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Exodus 32
32
The Golden Calf
1#Ex 24:18; Ac 7:40Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us gods which will 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.”
2#Ex 12:35–36; Jdg 8:24–27Aaron said to them, “Break off the gold earrings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3So all the people broke off the gold earrings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4#Dt 9:16; Ne 9:18He received them from their hand, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
5#2Ki 10:20; Lev 23:2When Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow will be a feast to the Lord.” 6#1Co 10:7; Nu 25:2So they rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7#Dt 9:12; Ex 32:11The Lord spoke to Moses, “Go, and get down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8#Ex 20:3–4; 20:23They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molded calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, which has brought you up from the land of Egypt.’ ”
9#Ex 33:3; 33:5Then the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and certainly, it is a stiff-necked people. 10#Dt 9:14; Nu 14:12; Dt 9:19Now therefore let Me alone, so that My wrath may burn against them and I may destroy them. And I will make of you a great nation.”
11#Dt 9:18–20; 9:26–29But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, why does Your wrath burn against Your people, whom You have brought forth from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12#Nu 14:13–16; Dt 9:28Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath and relent of this harm against Your people. 13#Ge 12:7; 22:16Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your descendants, and they will inherit it forever.’ ” 14#Ps 106:45; 2Sa 24:16Then the Lord relented of the harm which He said He would do to His people.
15#Dt 9:15Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of testimony in his hand. The tablets were written on both their sides. They were written on one side and on the other. 16#Ex 31:18The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing, engraved on the tablets.
17#Ex 17:9; 24:13When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.”
18But he said:
“It is not the sound of those who shout for victory,
nor is it the sound of those who cry because of being overcome,
but I hear the sound of singing.”
19#Dt 9:16–17As soon as he came near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses’ anger burned, so he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the bottom of the mountain. 20#Dt 9:21Then he took the calf which they had made and burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it.
21#Ge 20:9Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin upon them?”
22#Dt 9:24; Ex 14:11Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn. You know that the people are set on evil. 23#Ex 32:1–4For they said to me, ‘Make a god for us which will go before us, for this Moses, the man that brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24#Ex 32:4I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and then I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.’ ”
25Now when Moses saw the people were in a frenzy, for Aaron had let them get completely out of control, causing derision from their enemies, 26then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side, come to me.” And all the Levites gathered themselves together around him.
27#Nu 25:5He said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Every man fasten his sword on his side, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.’ ” 28#Dt 33:9The Levites did according to the word of Moses, and about three thousand men of the people died that day. 29#Nu 25:11–13; Zec 13:3For Moses had said, “Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, that He may bestow a blessing on you this day, for every man opposes his son and his brother.”
30#1Sa 12:20; Nu 25:13On the next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin, and now I will go up to the Lord. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
31#Ex 20:23; 32:30Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, this people has committed a great sin and have made a god of gold for themselves. 32#Ps 69:28; Da 12:1Yet now, if You will, forgive their sin, but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”
33#Eze 18:4Then the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34#Ex 23:20; Dt 32:35So go now, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Indeed, My angel will go before you. Nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will indeed punish them for their sin.”
35And the Lord plagued the people because they had made the calf, the one that Aaron made.
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