Exodus 32
32
Exodus 32
1¶ And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, Rise up, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.
2And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3Then all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them unto Aaron,
4who took them from their hands and fashioned it with a graving tool and made of it a molten calf. Then they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5And seeing this, Aaron built an altar before the calf; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast unto the Lord.
6And 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¶ Then the Lord said unto Moses, Go, descend; for thy people, which thou didst bring out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
8They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molten calf and have worshipped it and have sacrificed unto it and said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
9The Lord further said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and for certain it is a stiffnecked people.
10Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot in them and consume them; and I will put thee over a great nation.
11Then Moses grieved before the Lord his God and said, Lord, why shall thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12Why should the Egyptians speak and say, For evil did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from upon the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of the evil of thy people.
13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy slaves, to whom thou didst sware by thine own self and hast said unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall take it for inheritance for ever.
14Then the Lord repented of the evil which he said should be done unto his people.
15¶ And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand; the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
17And Joshua, hearing the noise of the people as they shouted, said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
18And he answered, It is not the voice of those that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of those that cry for being overcome, but the noise of those that sing that I hear.
19And it came to pass as soon as he came near unto the camp and he saw the calf and the dances, anger caused Moses to wax hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mount.
20And he took the calf which they had made and burnt it in the fire and ground it to powder and scattered it upon the waters and made the sons of Israel drink it.
21¶ And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people do unto thee that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
22And Aaron answered, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot; thou knowest the people that they are inclined to evil.
23For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us, for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what is become of him.
24And I answered unto 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.
25And when Moses saw that the people were naked (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies),
26Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, Who is on the Lord’s side? Come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
27And he said unto them, Thus hath the Lord God of Israel said, Put every man his sword by his side and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and slay each one his brother and his companion and his neighbour.
28And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29Then Moses had said, Today you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, for each one has consecrated in his son and in his brother, that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
30¶ And it came to pass on the next day that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin, but now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make reconciliation for your sin.
31Then Moses returned unto the Lord and said, I pray thee, for, this people who have sinned a great sin and have made themselves gods of gold,
32that thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me now out of thy book which thou hast written.
33And the Lord answered unto Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, this one will I blot out of my book.
34Therefore go now, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee; behold, my Angel shall go before thee; nevertheless in the day of my visitation I will visit their sin in them.
35And the Lord smote the people because they had made the calf, which Aaron formed.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International
Exodus 32
32
Israel Worships a Golden Calf
1The people saw that Moses took a long time to come down from the mountain. So they gathered around Aaron. They said to him, “Come. Make us a god that will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him.”
2Aaron answered them, “Take the gold earrings off your wives, your sons and your daughters. Bring the earrings to me.” 3So all the people took off their earrings. They brought them to Aaron. 4He took what they gave him and made it into a metal statue of a god. It looked like a calf. Aaron shaped it with a tool. Then the people said, “Israel, here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.”
5When Aaron saw what they were doing, he built an altar in front of the calf. He said, “Tomorrow will be a feast day to honor the Lord.” 6So the next day the people got up early. They sacrificed burnt offerings and brought friendship offerings. They sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to dance wildly in front of their god.
7The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “Go down. Your people you brought up out of Egypt have become very sinful. 8They have quickly turned away from what I commanded them. They have made themselves a metal statue of a god in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down and sacrificed to it. And they have said, ‘Israel, here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.’
9“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses. “They are stubborn. 10Now leave me alone. I will destroy them because of my great anger. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
11But Moses asked the Lord his God to have mercy on the people. “Lord,” he said, “why should you destroy your people in anger? You used your great power and mighty hand to bring them out of Egypt. 12Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out to hurt them. He wanted to kill them in the mountains. He wanted to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn away from your great anger. Please take pity on your people. Don’t destroy them! 13Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel. You made a promise to them in your own name. You said, ‘I will make your children after you as many as the stars in the sky. I will give them all this land I promised them. It will belong to them forever.’ ” 14Then the Lord took pity on his people. He didn’t destroy them as he had said he would.
15Moses turned and went down the mountain. He had the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. Words were written on both sides of the tablets, front and back. 16The tablets were the work of God. The words had been written by God. They had been carved on the tablets.
17Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting. So he said to Moses, “It sounds like war in the camp.”
18Moses replied,
“It’s not the sound of winning.
It’s not the sound of losing.
It’s the sound of singing that I hear.”
19As Moses approached the camp, he saw the calf. He also saw the people dancing. So he was very angry. He threw the tablets out of his hands. They broke into pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20He took the calf the people had made. He burned it in the fire. Then he ground it into powder. He scattered it on the water. And he made the Israelites drink it.
21He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you? How did they make you lead them into such terrible sin?”
22“Please don’t be angry,” Aaron answered. “You know how these people like to do what is evil. 23They said to me, ‘Make us a god that will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24So I told them, ‘Anyone who has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ They gave me the gold. I threw it into the fire. And out came this calf!”
25Moses saw that the people were running wild. Aaron had let them get out of control. The people had become a joke to their enemies. 26Moses stood at the entrance to the camp. He said, “Anyone on the Lord’s side, come to me.” All the Levites joined him.
27Then he spoke to them. He said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Each man must put on his sword. Then he must go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other. Each man must kill his brother and friend and neighbor.’ ” 28The Levites did as Moses commanded. About 3,000 of the people died that day. 29Then Moses said to the Levites, “You have been set apart for the Lord today. You fought against your own sons and brothers. And he has blessed you this day.”
30The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a terrible sin. But now I will go up to the Lord. Maybe if I pray to him, he will forgive your sin.”
31So Moses went back to the Lord. He said, “These people have committed a terrible sin. They have made a god out of gold for themselves. 32Now please forgive their sin. But if you won’t, then erase my name out of the book you have written.”
33The Lord replied to Moses. The Lord said, “I will erase out of my book only the names of those who have sinned against me. 34Now go. Lead the people to the place I spoke about. My angel will go ahead of you. But when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
35The Lord struck the people with a plague. That’s because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
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