Exodus 32

1The people saw that Moses was a long time in coming down from the mountain. So they crowded around Aaron and said to him, “Get up and make us gods to lead the way for us. This Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has become of him.” 2Aaron told them, “Pull the gold rings out of the ears of your wives and your sons and daughters, and bring them here to me.” 3So all the people stripped the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4He took the gold from them, shaped it with an engraving tool, and made it into a calf of cast metal. Then they said, “Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” 5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and made a proclamation: “Tomorrow we hold a feast to the LORD.” 6They were up early the next morning, offering burnt offerings and bringing fellowship offerings. Then the people sat down to a meal of food and drink, and rose up to revel.

7Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly. 8So soon they have left the path I laid down for them! They have cast a metal calf for themselves, bowed down before it, offered sacrifices to it, and declared, ‘Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” 9The LORD went on to say to Moses, “I have seen what this people is like. They are a stiff-necked people. 10So now let me alone, so that my wrath can burn hot against them and I can put an end to them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” 11But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “LORD,” he said, “why should your anger blaze against your own people? You brought them out of the land of Egypt by great power and a strong hand. 12Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out to do them harm, to kill them among the mountains and put an end to them on the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger, and relent from the harm you mean to bring on your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, who served you. You swore to them by yourself and told them, ‘I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky. All this land I have spoken of I will give to your descendants, and it will be theirs for all time.’” 14And the LORD relented from the harm he had said he would do to his people.

15Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, holding the two tablets of the testimony. These tablets were written on both sides, on the one face and on the other. 16God himself had made the tablets, and the writing cut into them was God’s own writing. 17When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “I hear the sound of war in the camp!” 18But Moses answered, “It is not the shout of men who have won, nor the wail of men who have lost. What I hear is the sound of singing.” 19As Moses came close to the camp, he saw the calf and the people dancing. He blazed with anger, flung down the tablets he was holding, and smashed them at the foot of the mountain. 20He took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, and crushed it until it was fine dust. Then he scattered the dust over the water and made the Israelites drink it. 21Moses asked Aaron, “What had this people done to you, that you would bring so great a sin on them?” 22Aaron answered, “My lord, do not be so angry. You yourself know this people, how bent they are on doing wrong. 23They said to me, ‘Make us gods to lead the way for us. This Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has become of him.’ 24So I told them, ‘Anyone who has gold, pull it off.’ They handed it over to me, I tossed it into the fire, and out came this calf!” 25Moses saw that the people had broken loose. Aaron had let them run unchecked, so that they had become something for their enemies to sneer at. 26Moses took his stand at the gate of the camp and called out, “Who is on the LORD’s side? Come here to me!” And all the Levites rallied around him. 27He said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every man of you fasten his sword at his side. Pass through the camp from gate to gate and back again. Kill, every one of you, your brother, your friend and your neighbor.’” 28The Levites did as Moses ordered, and about 3,000 men of the people were killed that day. 29Moses said, “Today you have ordained yourselves for the LORD, for each of you took a stand against his own son and brother. And so this day a blessing has been given you.” 30The next day Moses told the people, “What you have done is a terrible sin. But I will go up again to the LORD. It may be that I can make atonement for your sin.” 31So Moses went back to the LORD and said, “Oh, hear me! This people has committed a terrible sin. They have made themselves gods out of gold. 32But now, if only you would forgive their sin! But if not, then blot me out of your book that you have written.” 33The LORD answered Moses, “It is the one who has sinned against me whom I will blot out of my book. 34Now go and lead the people to the place I told you of. My angel will go ahead of you. But when the day comes for me to call them to account, I will call them to account for their sin.” 35Then the LORD sent a plague on the people for making the calf, the calf that Aaron had made.