1When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, “Rise up, make for us a god who will go before us, for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has become of him.”
2Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”
3So all the people tore off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
4He took them from their hand, fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it into a molten calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”
5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron called out and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to Yahweh.”
6They rose early the next day and offered up burnt offerings and brought near peace offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.
7Then Yahweh spoke to Moses: “Go, go down, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly.
8They have turned aside quickly from the way that I commanded them; they have made for themselves a molten calf, and they have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.’”
9And Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.
10Now then, leave me alone, that my anger may burn against them and I may consume them; and I will make you into a great nation.”
11But Moses sought the favor of Yahweh his God and said, “Why, Yahweh, should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand?
12Why should Egypt say, ‘With evil intent he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent concerning the disaster against your people.
13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and said to them, ‘I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they will inherit it forever.’”
14And Yahweh relented concerning the disaster that he had said he would do to his people.
15Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand—tablets written on both their sides; on this side and on that they were written.
16And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
17When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.”
18But he said, “It is not the sound of the cry of victory, nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear.”
19And as he drew near to the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.
20He took the calf that they had made and burned it in the fire, ground it until it was fine powder, scattered it on the surface of the water, and made the sons of Israel drink it.
21Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought upon them a great sin?”
22Aaron said, “Do not let my lord’s anger burn. You yourself know the people, that they are set on evil.
23They said to me, ‘Make for us a god who will go before us, for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has become of him.’
24So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, tear it off.’ They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
25When Moses saw that the people were let loose—for Aaron had let them loose, to their derision among their adversaries—
26then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is for Yahweh, to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered to him.
27He said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Each man put his sword on his thigh; pass through and back from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother, his companion, and his neighbor.’”
28The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.
29Then Moses said, “Fill your hands today for Yahweh—for each was against his son and against his brother—that he may bestow upon you today a blessing.”
30On the next day Moses said to the people, “You yourselves have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
31So Moses returned to Yahweh and said, “Alas! This people has committed a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold.
32But now, if you will forgive their sin— and if not, blot me out, please, from your book that you have written.”
33But Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, him I will blot out of my book.
34And now go, lead the people to the place of which I spoke to you. Behold, my messenger will go before you. But on the day of my reckoning, I will reckon their sin upon them.”
35Then Yahweh struck the people with a plague, because of what they had done with the calf that Aaron had made.
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