The People Make a Gold Calf

32 The people saw that a long time had passed. And Moses had not come down from the mountain. So they gathered around Aaron. They said to him, “Moses led us out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him. So make us gods who will lead us.”

² Aaron said to the people, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, sons and daughters are wearing. Bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ Aaron took the gold from the people. Then he melted it and made a statue of a calf. He finished it with a tool. Then the people said, “Israel! These are your gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

⁵ Aaron saw all this, and he built an altar before the calf. Then he made an announcement. He said, “Tomorrow there will be a special feast to honor the Lord.” ⁶ The people got up early the next morning. They offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. First the people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up and had wild parties.

⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down from this mountain. Your people, the people you brought out of the land of Egypt, have done a terrible sin. ⁸ They have quickly turned away from the things I commanded them to do. They have made for themselves a calf of melted gold. They have worshiped that calf and offered sacrifices to it. The people have said, ‘Israel, these are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.’”

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen these people. I know that they are very stubborn people. ¹⁰ So now do not stop me. I am so angry with them that I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you and your descendants a great nation.”

¹¹ But Moses begged the Lord his God. Moses said, “Lord, don’t let your anger destroy your people. You brought these people out of Egypt with your great power and strength. ¹² Don’t let the people of Egypt say, ‘The Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt. But he planned to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the earth.’ So stop being angry. Don’t destroy your people. ¹³ Remember the men who served you—Abraham, Isaac and Israel. You promised with an oath to them. You said, ‘I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky. I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised them. It will be theirs forever.’” ¹⁴ So the Lord changed his mind. He did not destroy the people as he had said he might.

¹⁵ Then Moses went down the mountain. In his hands he had the two stone tablets with the agreement on them. The commands were written on both sides of each stone, front and back. ¹⁶ God himself had made the stones. And God himself had written the commands on the stones.

¹⁷ Then Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting. He said to Moses, “It sounds like war down in the camp.”

¹⁸ Moses answered:

¹⁹ When Moses came close to the camp, he saw the gold calf and the dancing. He became very angry. He threw down the stone tablets which he was carrying. He broke them at the bottom of the mountain. ²⁰ Then he took the calf that the people had made. He melted it in the fire. And he ground the gold until it became powder. He threw the powder into the water. And he forced the Israelites to drink that water.

²¹ Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you? Why did you cause them to do such a terrible sin?”

²² Aaron answered, “Don’t be angry, master. You know that these people are always ready to do wrong. ²³ The people said to me, ‘Moses led us out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him. So make us gods who will lead us.’ ²⁴ So I told the people, ‘Take off your gold jewelry.’ So they gave me the gold. I threw it into the fire and out came this calf!”

²⁵ Moses saw that the people were acting wildly. He saw that Aaron had let them get out of control. Their enemies would laugh at them. ²⁶ So Moses stood at the entrance to the camp. He said, “Let anyone who wants to follow the Lord come to me.” And all the people from the family of Levi gathered around Moses.

²⁷ Then Moses said to them, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says this: ‘Every man must put on his sword and go through the camp from one end to the other. Each man must kill his brother, his friend and his neighbor.’” ²⁸ The people from the family of Levi obeyed Moses. That day about 3,000 of the people of Israel died. ²⁹ Then Moses said, “Today you have been given for service to the Lord. You were willing to kill your own sons and brothers. And God has blessed you for this.”

³⁰ The next day Moses told the people, “You have done a terrible sin. But now I will go up to the Lord. Maybe I can do something so your sins will be removed. Then you will belong to God again.” ³¹ So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “How terrible it is! These people have sinned horribly. They have made for themselves gods from gold. ³² Now, forgive them of this sin. If you will not, then erase my name. Erase it from the book in which you have written the names of your people.”

³³ But the Lord told Moses, “I will erase from my book the names of the people who sin against me. ³⁴ So now, go. Lead the people where I have told you. My angel will lead you. When the time comes to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

³⁵ So the Lord caused terrible things to happen to the people. He did this because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.