Exodus 32:1-9

New American Standard Bible 1995

The Golden Calf

32 Now when the people saw that Moses ^(A)delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, ^(B)make us ^[a]a god who will go before us; as for ^(C)this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ² Aaron said to them, “^(D)Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a ^(E)molten calf; and they said, “^[b]This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ⁵ Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day they rose early and ^(F)offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and ^(G)the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up ^(H)to play.

⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go ^[c]down at once, for your people, whom ^(I)you brought up from the land of Egypt, have ^(J)corrupted themselves. ⁸ They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. ^(K)They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and ^(L)have sacrificed to it and said, ‘^[d](M)This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” ^9 (N)The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are ^[e](O)an obstinate people.