Exodus
Chapter 32
1 When the people saw Moses was taking a long time to come down from the mountain, they went to Aaron and said, “Get up, make us gods to lead us. We don’t know what happened to Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.”
2 Aaron told them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, sons, and daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”
3 Everyone took off their gold earrings and gave them to Aaron.
4 He took the gold from them, made it into a statue of a young cow with a tool, and they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.”
5 When Aaron saw it, he made an altar in front of it; Aaron announced and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to God.”
6 They got up early the next day, gave burnt offerings, and presented peace offerings; then the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to have fun.
7 God said to Moses, “Go down, because your people whom you led out of Egypt have become corrupt.”
8 They quickly left the path I ordered them to follow. They made a golden calf, worshiped it, sacrificed to it, and said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.”
9 God said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and they are very stubborn.”
10 So now, leave me alone so that my anger can grow strong against them, and I can destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.
11 Moses pleaded with God and said, “God, why are you so angry with your people whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a strong hand?”
12 Why should the Egyptians say, “He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to wipe them off the earth”? Stop being so angry and change your mind about this bad plan for your people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, your servants, to whom you promised by yourself and told them, I will increase your descendants like the stars in the sky, and all this land that I have mentioned, I will give to your descendants, and they will own it forever.
14 God felt sorry for the bad things he planned to do to his people.
15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two stone tablets of God’s law in his hands. These tablets had writing on both sides.
16 The tablets were made by God, and the writing on them was God’s writing, carved into the tablets.
17 When Joshua heard the people shouting, he told Moses, “There’s a sound of fighting in the camp.”
18 He said, “This isn’t the sound of victory shouts or defeat cries, but I hear the sound of singing.”
19 When he got close to the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became very angry. He threw down the stone tablets and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
20 He took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, crushed it into dust, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.
21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you to make you lead them into such a big sin?”
22 Aaron said, “Please don’t be angry, you know the people are prone to do wrong.”
23 They said to me, “Make gods for us to lead us because we don’t know what happened to Moses, who led us out of Egypt.”
24 I told them, “Anyone who has gold, take it off.” So they gave it to me. I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.
25 When Moses saw that the people had no clothes (because Aaron had let them take off their clothes, making them ashamed in front of their enemies),
26 Moses stood at the camp entrance and asked, “Who is on God’s side? Come to me.” Then all the Levites gathered around him.
27 He told them, “God of Israel says, ‘Each man strap on his sword, move around from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, friend, and neighbor.’”
28 The Levi’s children followed Moses’ instructions, and that day about three thousand men died.
29 Moses said, “Make yourselves holy for God today, each one of you on your son and brother, so He can give you a blessing today.”
30 The next day, Moses told the people, “You have committed a serious sin. Now, I will go to God; maybe I can make up for your sin.”
31 Moses went back to God and said, “Oh, these people have done a big sin by making gold idols for themselves.”
32 But now, if you will forgive their sin, do so; but if not, please remove my name from your book that you have written.
33 God said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will erase his name from my book.”
34 So now go, lead the people to the place I told you about. An angel will go ahead of you. But when I check on them, I will punish them for their sins.
35 God punished the people because they created the calf that Aaron made.