Exodus 32
32
The people make an idol
The people make an idol to worship
(Deuteronomy 9.6-29)
1After the people saw that Moses had been on the mountain for a long time, they went to Aaron and said, “Make us an image of a god who will lead and protect us. Moses brought us out of Egypt, but nobody knows what has happened to him.”#Ac 7.40.
2Aaron told them, “Bring me the gold earrings that your wives and sons and daughters are wearing.” 3Everybody took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron, 4then he melted them and made an idol in the shape of a young bull.#1 K 12.28; Ac 7.41.
All the people said to one another, “This is the god who brought us out of Egypt!”
5When Aaron saw what was happening, he built an altar in front of the idol and said, “Tomorrow we will celebrate in honour of the LORD.” 6The people got up early the next morning and killed some animals to be used for sacrifices and others to be eaten. Then everyone ate and drank so much that they began to carry on like wild people.#1 Co 10.7.
7The LORD said to Moses:
Hurry back down! Those people you led out of Egypt are acting like fools. 8They have already stopped obeying me and have made themselves an idol in the shape of a young bull. They have bowed down to it, offered sacrifices, and said that it is the god who brought them out of Egypt. 9Moses, I have seen how stubborn these people are, 10and I'm angry enough to destroy them, so don't try to stop me. But I will make your descendants into a great nation.
11Moses tried to get the LORD God to change his mind:#Nu 14.13-19.
Our LORD, you used your mighty power to bring these people out of Egypt. Now don't become angry and destroy them. 12If you do, the Egyptians will say that you brought your people out here into the mountains just to get rid of them. Please don't be angry with your people. Don't destroy them!
13Remember the solemn promise you made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You promised that some day they would have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky and that you would give them land.#Gn 22.16,17; Gn 17.8.
14So even though the LORD had threatened to destroy the people, he changed his mind and let them live.
15-16Moses went back down the mountain with the two flat stones on which God had written all his laws with his own hand, and he had used both sides of the stones.
17When Joshua heard the noisy shouts of the people, he said to Moses, “A battle must be going on down in the camp.”
18But Moses replied, “It doesn't sound like they are shouting because they have won or lost a battle. They are singing wildly!”
19As Moses got closer to the camp, he saw the idol, and he also saw the people dancing around. This made him so angry that he threw down the stones and broke them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20He melted the idol the people had made, and he ground it into powder. He scattered it in their water and made them drink it. 21Moses asked Aaron, “What did these people do to harm you? Why did you make them sin in this terrible way?”
22Aaron answered:
Don't be angry with me. You know as well as I do that they are determined to do evil. 23They even told me, “That man Moses led us out of Egypt, but now we don't know what has happened to him. Make us a god to lead us.” 24Then I asked them to bring me their gold earrings. They took them off and gave them to me. I threw the gold into a fire, and out came this bull.
25Moses knew that the people were out of control and that it was Aaron's fault. And now they had made fools of themselves in front of their enemies. 26So Moses stood at the gate of the camp and shouted, “Everyone who is on the LORD's side come over here!”
Then the men of the Levi tribe gathered around Moses, 27and he said to them, “The LORD God of Israel commands you to strap on your swords and go through the camp, killing your relatives, your friends, and your neighbours.”
28The men of the Levi tribe followed his orders, and that day they killed about three thousand men. 29Moses said to them, “You obeyed the LORD and did what was right, and so you will serve as his priests for the people of Israel. It was hard for you to kill your own sons and brothers, but the LORD has blessed you and made you his priests today.”
30The next day Moses told the people, “This is a terrible thing you have done. But I will go back to the LORD to see if I can do something to keep this sin from being held against you.”
31Moses returned to the LORD and said, “The people have committed a terrible sin. They have made a gold idol to be their god. 32But I beg you to forgive them. If you don't, please wipe my name out of your book.”#32.32 your book: The people of Israel believed that the LORD kept a record of the names of his people, and anyone whose name was removed from that book no longer belonged to the LORD.#Ps 69.28; Rev 3.5.
33The LORD replied, “I will wipe out of my book the name of everyone who has sinned against me. 34Now take my people to the place I told you about, and my angel will lead you. But when the time comes, I will punish them for this sin.”
35So the LORD punished the people of Israel with a terrible disease for talking Aaron into making the gold idol.
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Exodus 32: CEVUK
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Exodus 32
32
The Golden Calf
1When the people saw that Moses #ch. 24:18; Deut. 9:9 delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, #ver. 23; Cited Acts 7:40 “Up, make us gods who shall #ch. 13:21go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2So Aaron said to them, “Take off the #[ch. 12:35, 36]; See Judg. 8:24-27rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4#Deut. 9:16; Neh. 9:18; Ps. 106:19; Acts 7:41; [Judg. 17:3, 4] And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden#32:4 Hebrew cast metal; also verse 8 calf. And they said, #1 Kgs. 12:28“These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron #[2 Kgs. 10:20]made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And #Cited 1 Cor. 10:7 the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up #Gen. 26:8; [Judg. 21:21]to play.
7And the Lord said to Moses, #Deut. 9:12 “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have #Judg. 2:19; [Hos. 9:9]corrupted themselves. 8They have turned aside quickly out of the way that #ch. 20:3, 4, 23; Deut. 9:16I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, #ch. 33:3, 5; 34:9; Deut. 9:6, 13; 31:27; 2 Chr. 30:8; Acts 7:51; [Isa. 48:4]it is a stiff-necked people. 10Now therefore #Deut. 9:14 let me alone, that #ch. 22:24 my wrath may burn hot against them and #ch. 33:3 I may consume them, in order that #Num. 14:12I may make a great nation of you.”
11But #Deut. 9:18, 26-29; Ps. 106:23; [Ps. 74:1, 2]Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O 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#[Deut. 32:27]; See Num. 14:13-16 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and #See ver. 14relent from this disaster against your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you #Gen. 22:16; Heb. 6:13 swore by your own self, and said to them, #Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 15:7, 18; 26:4; 28:13; 35:11, 12; 48:16‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14And the Lord #Ps. 106:45; [1 Chr. 21:15; Jer. 18:8; 26:13, 15, 19; Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:10; 4:2]relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.
15Then #Deut. 9:15 Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the #ch. 34:29two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. 16#ch. 31:18The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. 17When #ch. 17:9, 10; 24:13; 33:11Joshua 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 sound of #Jer. 51:14shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” 19And as soon as he came near the camp and #Deut. 9:16, 17, 21saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.
21And Moses said to Aaron, #[Gen. 20:9]“What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” 22And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. #[ch. 14:11; 15:24; 16:2, 20; 17:2, 4; 1 Sam. 15:24]You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23For #ver. 1they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24So #ver. 2-4I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
25And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, #[ver. 12]to the derision of their enemies), 26then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you #[Num. 25:5; Deut. 33:9]kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” 28And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. 29And Moses said, “Today you have been #[Zech. 13:3; Matt. 10:37; Luke 14:26]; See Num. 25:11-13; Deut. 13:6-10ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”
30The next day Moses said to the people, #See ver. 21; [1 Sam. 12:20] “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; #2 Sam. 16:12; Amos 5:15perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, #[See ver. 30 above] this people has sinned a great sin. They have #ch. 20:23made for themselves gods of gold. 32But now, if #[Num. 14:19] you will forgive their sin—but if not, please #[Rom. 9:3] blot me out of #Ps. 56:8; 69:28; 139:16; Dan. 12:1; Phil. 4:3your book that you have written.” 33But the Lord said to Moses, #Ezek. 18:4, 20“Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. 34#ch. 33:12 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; #See ch. 14:19behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”
35Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.
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