Exodus 32:11-20

But 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? Why 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.  Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel — you swore to them by yourself  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.’ ”  So the LORD relented  concerning the disaster he had said he would bring on his people. Then 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. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was God’s writing, engraved on the tablets.  When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” But 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! As 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. He 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.