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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Exodus 32: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Exodus 32
32
1And the people seeing that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, gathering together against Aaron, said: Arise, make us gods, that may go before us; for as to this Moses, the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has befallen him.
2And Aaron said to them: Take the golden earrings from the ears of your wives, and your sons and daughters, and bring them to me.
3And the people did what he had commanded, bringing the earrings to Aaron.
4And when he had received them, he fashioned them by founders' work, and made of them a molten calf. And they said: These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
5And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and made proclamation by a crier's voice, saying: Tomorrow is the solemnity of the Lord.
6And rising in the morning, they offered holocausts, and peace-victims: and the people sat down to eat, and drink, and they rose up to play.
7And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Go, get thee down: thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, hath sinned.
8They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst shew them: and they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it, and sacrificing victims to it, have said: These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
9And again the Lord said to Moses: See that this people is stiffnecked.
10Let me alone, that my wrath may be enkindled against them, and that I may destroy them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
11But Moses besought the Lord his God, saying: Why, O Lord, is thy indignation kindled against thy people, whom thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12Let not the Egyptians say, I beseech thee: He craftily brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains, and destroy them from the earth. Let thy anger cease, and be appeased upon the wickedness of thy people.
13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou sworest by thy own self, saying: I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven; and this whole land that I have spoken of I will give to you seed; and you shall possess it for ever.
14And the Lord was appeased from doing the evil which he had spoken against his people.
15And Moses returned from the mount, carrying the two tables of the testimony in his hand, written on both sides,
16And made by the work of God. The writing also of God was graven in the tables.
17And Josue hearing the noise of the people shouting said to Moses: The noise of battle is heard in the camp.
18But he answered: It is not the cry of men encouraging to fight, nor the shout of men compelling to flee. But I hear the voice of singers.
19And when he came nigh to the camp, he saw the calf, and the dances: and being very angry, he threw the tables out of his hand, and broke them at the foot of the mount.
20And laying hold of the calf which they had made, he burnt it, and beat it to powder, which he strowed into water, and gave thereof to the children of Israel to drink.
21And he said to Aaron: What has this people done to thee, that thou shouldst bring upon them a most heinous sin?
22And he answered him: Let not my lord be offended: for thou knowest this people, that they are prone to evil.
23They said to me: Make us gods, that may go before us; for as to this Moses, who brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is befallen him.
24And I said to them: Which of you hath any gold? And they took and brought 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 stripped them by occasion of the shame of the filth, and had set them naked among their enemies,)
26Then standing in the gate of the camp, he said: If any man be on the Lord's side let him join with me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
27And he said to them: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Put every man his sword upon his thigh. Go, and return from gate to gate through the midst of the camp, and let every man kill his brother, and friend, and neighbour.
28And the sons of Levi did according to the words of Moses: and there were slain that day about three and twenty thousand men.
29And Moses said: You have consecrated your hands this day to the Lord: every man in his son and in his brother, that a blessing may be given to you.
30And when the next day was come, Moses spoke to the people: You have sinned a very great sin. I will go up to the Lord, if by any means I may be able to entreat him for your crime.
31And returning to the Lord, he said: I beseech thee: this people hath sinned a heinous sin, and they have made to themselves gods of gold. Either forgive them this trespass,
32Or if thou do not, strike me out of the book that thou hast written.
33And the Lord answered him: He that hath sinned against me, him will I strike out of my book:
34But go thou, and lead this people whither I have told thee. My angel shall go before thee. And I in the day of revenge will visit this sin also of theirs.
35The Lord therefore struck the people for the guilt on occasion of the calf which Aaron had made.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.