1When the people saw that Moses was taking a long time to come down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, "Get up, make us gods to go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him."
2Aaron said to them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me."
3So all the people took off the gold earrings they were wearing and brought them to Aaron.
4He took them from their hands. He melted the gold and shaped it with a tool, and made it into a calf. Then they said, "These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt."
5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf. Aaron made an announcement and said, "Tomorrow there will be a feast to the LORD."
6Early the next day they got up and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play.
7The LORD said to Moses, "Go, get down. Your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have ruined themselves."
8"They have turned aside quickly from the way I commanded them. They have made themselves a calf of melted gold, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed to it, and have said, 'These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.'"
9The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and look, they are a stiff-necked people."
10"So now leave me alone, so that my anger may burn hot against them and I may destroy them. And I will make a great nation from you."
11But Moses begged the LORD his God, and said, "LORD, why does your anger burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?"
12"Why should the Egyptians say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce anger, and change your mind about this evil against your people."
13"Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, your servants. You swore by your own self to them and said, 'I will make your descendants as many as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your descendants, and they shall have it for ever.'"
14So the LORD changed his mind about the evil 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. The tablets were written on both their sides, written on one side and on the other.
16The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, cut into the tablets.
17When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp."
18But Moses said, "It is not the sound of those who shout in victory, and it is not the sound of those who cry out when they are beaten. It is the noise of singing that I hear."
19As soon as Moses came near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. His anger burned hot. He threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
20He took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder. He scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it.
21Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you, that you have brought such a great sin upon them?"
22Aaron said, "Do not let my lord's anger burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil."
23"They said to me, 'Make us gods to go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'"
24"So I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let them take it off.' So they gave it to me. Then I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf."
25Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them get out of control, to their shame among their enemies.
26Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the LORD's side? Let him come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.
27He said to them, "This is what the LORD God of Israel says: 'Let every man put his sword by his side. Go in and out from gate to gate through the camp, and let every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.'"
28The children of Levi did what Moses said, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.
29For Moses had said, "Set yourselves apart today to the LORD, every man against his son and against his brother, so that he may give you a blessing this day."
30The next day Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to the LORD. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."
31So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Oh, this people have sinned a great sin. They have made themselves gods of gold."
32"Yet now, if you will forgive their sin -; and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written."
33The LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, him I will blot out of my book."
34"So go now, lead the people to the place I have spoken to you about. Look, my Angel shall go before you. But on the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin."
35And the LORD struck the people with a plague, because they made the calf, the one Aaron made.