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. They said to him, “Moses led us out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him. So 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. Bring them to me.” 3So all the people took their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4Aaron took the gold from the people. Then he melted it and made a statue of a calf. He finished it with a tool. Then the people said, “Israel! These are your gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
5Aaron saw all this, and he built an altar before the calf. Then he made an announcement. He said, “Tomorrow there will be a special feast to honor the Lord.” 6The people got up early the next morning. They offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. First the people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up and had wild parties.
7And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down from this mountain. Your people, the people you brought out of the land of Egypt, have done a terrible sin. 8They have quickly turned away from the things I commanded them to do. They have made for themselves a calf of melted gold. They have worshiped that calf and offered sacrifices to it. The people have said, ‘Israel, these are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.’”
9The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen these people. I know that they are very stubborn people. 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. Moses said, “Lord, don’t let your anger destroy your people. You brought these people 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. But he planned to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the earth.’ So stop being angry. Don’t destroy your people. 13Remember the men who served you—Abraham, Isaac and Israel. You promised with an oath to them. You 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. It will be theirs forever.’” 14So the Lord changed his mind. He did not destroy the people as he had said he might.
15Then Moses went down the mountain. 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 stones. And God himself had written the commands on the stones.
17Then Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting. He said to Moses, “It sounds like war down in the camp.”
18Moses answered:
“It is not an army’s shout of victory.
It is not an army’s 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. He became very angry. He threw down the stone tablets which he was carrying. He broke them at the bottom of the mountain. 20Then he took the calf that the people had made. He melted it in the fire. And he ground the gold until it became powder. He threw the powder into the water. And he forced the Israelites to drink that water.
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. So make us gods who will lead us.’ 24So I told the people, ‘Take off your gold jewelry.’ So they gave me the gold. I threw it into the fire and out came this calf!”
25Moses saw that the people were acting wildly. He saw that Aaron had let them get out of control. Their enemies would laugh at them. 26So Moses stood at the entrance to the camp. He 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. That day about 3,000 of the people of Israel 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. Then you will belong to God again.” 31So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “How terrible it is! These people have sinned horribly. They have made for themselves gods from gold. 32Now, forgive them of this sin. If you will not, then erase my name. Erase it 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. 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. He did this because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Exodus 32
32
1 When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”
2Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.”
3 All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4He received what they handed him, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molded calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.”
6 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 The LORD spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! 8They have turned away quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
9 The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. 10Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
11 Moses begged the LORD his God, and said, “LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath, and turn away from this evil against your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring#32:13 or, seed as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”
14 So the LORD turned away from the evil which he said he would do to his people.
15 Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides. They were written on one side and on the other. 16The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is the noise of war in the camp.”
18He said, “It isn’t the voice of those who shout for victory. It is not the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing that I hear.” 19As soon as he came near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then Moses’ anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain. 20He took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it.
21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?”
22Aaron said, “Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23For they said to me, ‘Make us gods, which shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ 24I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off.’ So they gave it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
25 When Moses saw that the people were out of control, (for Aaron had let them lose control, causing derision among their enemies), 26then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the LORD’s side, come to me!”
All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. 27He said to them, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’” 28The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. About three thousand men fell of the people that day. 29Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, for every man was against his son and against his brother, that he may give you a blessing today.”
30 On the next day, Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to the LORD. Perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin.”
31 Moses returned to the LORD, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold. 32Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”
33 The LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. 34Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” 35The LORD struck the people, because of what they did with the calf, which Aaron made.
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