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
The Gold Calf
1When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods#32:1 Or make a god, also in v. 23 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!” #Ex 13:21; 24:18; Dt 9:9; Ac 7:40
2Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings#Ex 35:22; Jdg 8:24–27 that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.” 3So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4He 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,#32:4 Or “Israel, this is your god or “Israel, this is your God, also in v. 8 who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” #Dt 9:16; Jdg 17:3–4; 1Kg 12:28; Neh 9:18; Ps 106:19; Ac 7:41
5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it and made an announcement: “There will be a festival#Lv 23:2,37; 2Kg 10:20 to the Lord tomorrow.” 6Early 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.#Nm 25:2; 1Co 10:7
7The Lord spoke to Moses: “Go down at once! For your people you brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly.#Gn 6:11–12; Dt 9:12 8They 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.’”#Ex 20:3–4,23; 34:15; Dt 32:17; 1Kg 12:28 9The Lord also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked#Ex 33:3,5; 34:9; 2Ch 30:8; Is 48:4; Ac 7:51 people. 10Now 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.”#Ex 22:24; Nm 14:12; Dt 9:14
11But 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? 12Why 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.#Nm 14:13–16; Dt 9:18,26–29 13Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel — you swore to them by yourself#Gn 22:16–18; Heb 6:13 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.’”#Gn 12:7; 13:15; 15:7,18; 26:4; 35:11–12 14So the Lord relented#2Sm 24:16; Ps 106:45 concerning the disaster he had said he would bring on his people.
15Then 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. 16The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was God’s writing, engraved on the tablets.#Ex 31:18; Dt 9:15
17When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.”
18But 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!
19As 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. 20He 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.
21Then 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.#Gn 20:9; 26:10; Ex 14:11; Dt 9:16–17,21 23They 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!’ 24So 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!”
25Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them get out of control, making them a laughingstock to their enemies.#32:25 Hb obscure 26And Moses stood at the camp’s entrance and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites gathered around him. 27He 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.’”#Nm 25:5; Dt 33:9 28The Levites did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand men fell dead that day among the people. 29Afterward Moses said, “Today you have been dedicated#32:29 Text emended; MT reads “Today dedicate yourselves; LXX, Vg read “Today you have dedicated yourselves to the Lord, since each man went against his son and his brother. Therefore you have brought a blessing on yourselves today.”#Nm 25:11–13; Zch 13:3
30The 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.”#1Sm 12:20; 2Sm 16:12
31So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a grave sin; they have made a god of gold for themselves.#Ex 20:23; Dt 9:18 32Now if you would only forgive their sin. But if not, please erase me from the book you have written.”#Ps 69:28; Dn 12:1; Rm 9:3; Php 4:3; Rv 3:5; 21:27
33The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will erase from my book.#Dt 29:20; Ps 9:5 34Now 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.”#Dt 32:35; Rm 2:5–6 35And the Lord inflicted a plague on the people for what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
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