Exodus 32
32
The Gold Calf
1Now when the people saw that Moses #Ex. 24:18; Deut. 9:9–12delayed coming down from the mountain, the people #Ex. 17:1–3gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, #Acts 7:40“Come, make us gods that shall #Ex. 13:21go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who #Ex. 32:8brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
2And Aaron said to them, “Break off the #Ex. 11:2; 35:22; Judg. 8:24–27golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4#Ex. 20:3, 4, 23; Deut. 9:16; Judg. 17:3, 4; 1 Kin. 12:28; Neh. 9:18; Ps. 106:19; Acts 7:41And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf.
Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that #Ex. 29:45, 46brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
5So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a #Lev. 23:2, 4, 21, 37; 2 Kin. 10:20; 2 Chr. 30:5proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.” 6Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people #Ex. 32:17–19; Num. 25:2; 1 Cor. 10:7sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
7And the Lord said to Moses, #Deut. 9:8–21; Dan. 9:14“Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt #Gen. 6:11, 12have corrupted themselves. 8They have turned aside quickly out of the way which #Ex. 20:3, 4, 23; Deut. 32:17I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, #1 Kin. 12:28‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ ” 9And the Lord said to Moses, #Ex. 33:3, 5; 34:9; Deut. 9:6; 2 Chr. 30:8; Is. 48:4; (Acts 7:51)“I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10Now therefore, #Deut. 9:14, 19let Me alone, that #Ex. 22:24My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And #Num. 14:12I will make of you a great nation.”
11#Deut. 9:18, 26–29Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12#Num. 14:13–19; Deut. 9:28; Josh. 7:9Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and #Ex. 32:14relent from this harm to Your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You #Gen. 22:16–18; (Heb. 6:13)swore by Your own self, and said to them, #Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 15:7, 18; 22:17; 26:4; 35:11, 12; Ex. 13:5, 11; 33:1‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” 14So the Lord #2 Sam. 24:16relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.
15And #Deut. 9:15Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. 16Now the #Ex. 31:18tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.
17And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.”
18But he said:
“It is not the noise of the shout of victory,
Nor the noise of the cry of defeat,
But the sound of singing I hear.”
19So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that #Deut. 9:16, 17he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20#Num. 5:17, 24; Deut. 9:21Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it. 21And Moses said to Aaron, #Gen. 26:10“What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?”
22So Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. #Ex. 14:11; Deut. 9:24You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23For they said to me, ‘Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24And I said to 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.”
25Now when Moses saw that the people were #Ex. 33:4, 5unrestrained (for Aaron #2 Chr. 28:19had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), 26then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side—come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. 27And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and #Num. 25:5–13let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ ” 28So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day. 29#Ex. 28:41; 1 Sam. 15:18, 22; Prov. 21:3; Zech. 13:3Then Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother.”
30Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, #1 Sam. 12:20, 23“You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; #2 Sam. 16:12perhaps I can #Num. 25:13make atonement for your sin.” 31Then Moses #Deut. 9:18returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have #Ex. 20:23made for themselves a god of gold! 32Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, #Ps. 69:28; Is. 4:3; Mal. 3:16; Rom. 9:3blot me #Dan. 12:1; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5; 21:27out of Your book which You have written.”
33And the Lord said to Moses, #Lev. 23:30; (Ezek. 18:4; 33:2, 14, 15)“Whoever has sinned against Me, I will #Ex. 17:14; Deut. 29:20; Ps. 9:5; Rev. 3:5; 21:27blot him out of My book. 34Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have #Ex. 3:17spoken to you. #Ex. 23:20; Josh. 5:14Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, #Deut. 32:35; Rom. 2:5, 6in the day when I visit for punishment, I will #Ps. 89:32visit punishment upon them for their sin.”
35So the Lord plagued the people because of #Neh. 9:18what they did with the calf which Aaron made.
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Exodus 32: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Exodus 32
32
1 Then the people, seeing that Moses made a delay in descending from the mountain, gathered together against Aaron, and said: "Rise up, make us gods, who may go before us. But as for this man Moses, who led us away from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has befallen him."
2 And Aaron said to them, "Take the golden earrings from the ears of your wives, and your sons and daughters, and bring them to me."
3 And the people did what he had commanded, carrying the earrings to Aaron.
4 And when he had received them, he formed these by the work of a casting furnace, and he made from these a molten calf. And they said: "These are your gods, O Israel, who led you away from the land of Egypt."
5 And when Aaron had seen it, he built an altar before it, and he cried out with a voice of proclamation, saying, "Tomorrow is the solemnity of the Lord."
6 And rising up in the morning, they offered holocausts, and peace victims, and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and they rose up to play.
7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: "Go, descend. Your people, whom you led away from the land of Egypt, have sinned.
8 They have quickly withdrawn from the way which you revealed to them. And they have made for themselves a molten calf, and they have worshiped it. And immolating victims to it, they have said: 'These are your gods, O Israel, who led you away from the land of Egypt.' "
9 And again, the Lord said to Moses: "I discern that this people is stiff-necked.
10 Release me, so that my fury may be enraged against them, and I may destroy them, and then I will make of you a great nation."
11 Then Moses prayed to the Lord his God, saying: "Why, O Lord, is your fury enraged against your people, whom you led away from the land of Egypt, with great strength and with a mighty hand?
12 I beg you, let not the Egyptians say, 'He cleverly led them away, so that he could put them to death in the mountains and destroy them from the earth.' Let your anger be quieted and appeased concerning the wickedness of your people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your very self, saying: 'I will multiply your offspring like the stars of heaven. And this entire land, about which I have spoken, I will give to your offspring. And you shall possess it forever.' "
14 And the Lord was appeased from doing the evil which he had spoken against his people.
15 And Moses returned from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, written on both sides,
16 and accomplished by the work of God. Also, the writing of God was engraved on the tablets.
17 Then Joshua, hearing the tumult of the people shouting, said to Moses: "The outcry of battle is heard in the camp."
18 But he responded: "It is not the clamor of men being exhorted to battle, nor the shout of men being compelled to flee. But I hear the voice of singing."
19 And when he had approached to the camp, he saw the calf and the dances. And being very angry, he threw down the tablets from his hand, and he broke them at the base of the mountain.
20 And seizing the calf, which they had made, he burnt it and crushed it, even to dust, which he scattered into water. And he gave from it to the sons of Israel to drink.
21 And he said to Aaron, "What has this people done to you, so that you would bring upon them the greatest sin?"
22 And he answered him: "Let not my lord be indignant. For you know this people, that they are prone to evil.
23 They said to me: 'Make gods for us, who may go before us. For this Moses, who led us away from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has befallen him.'
24 And I said to them, 'Which of you has gold?' And they took it and gave it to me. And I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out."
25 Therefore, Moses, seeing that the people were naked (for Aaron had stripped them because of the disgrace of their sordidness, and he had set them naked among their enemies),
26 and standing at the gate of the camp, said: "If anyone is for the Lord, let him join with me." And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.
27 And he said to them: "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let a man place his sword at his thigh. Go forth, and then return, from gate to gate, through the midst of the camp, and let each one kill his brother, and friend, and neighbor."
28 And the sons of Levi did according to the words of Moses, and there fell on that day about twenty-three thousand men.
29 And Moses said: "On this day, you have consecrated your hands to the Lord, each one in his son and in his brother, so that a blessing may be given to you."
30 Then, when the next day arrived, Moses spoke to the people: "You have sinned the greatest sin. I will ascend to the Lord. Perhaps, in some way, I might be able to entreat him for your wickedness."
31 And returning to the Lord, he said: "I beg you, this people has sinned the greatest sin, and they have made for themselves gods of gold. Either release them from this offense,
32 or, if you do not, then delete me from the book that you have written."
33 And the Lord answered him: "Whoever has sinned against me, him I will delete from my book.
34 But as for you, go and lead this people where I have told you. My angel will go before you. Then, on the day of retribution, I will also visit this sin of theirs."
35 Therefore, the Lord struck the people for the guilt of the calf, which Aaron had made.
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