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8 They have quickly withdrawn from the way which you revealed to them.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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Exodus 32
32
The People Make an Idol To Worship
(Deuteronomy 9.6-29)
1 #
Ac 7.40. After 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.”
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, 4#1 K 12.28; Ac 7.41. then he melted them and made an idol in the shape of a young bull.
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 honor of the Lord.” 6#1 Co 10.7. The 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.
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.
11 #
Nu 14.13-19. Moses tried to get the Lord God to change his mind:
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!
13 #
Gn 22.16,17; Gn 17.8. Remember the solemn promise you made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You promised that someday they would have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky and that you would give them land.
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 of his laws with his own hand, using 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. It sounds more like a wild party!”
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 neighbors.”
28The men of the Levi tribe followed his orders, and that day they killed about 3,000 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. 32#Ps 69.28; Rev 3.5. But 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.
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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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
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