Exodus 32

32When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."H5971H7200H4872H954H3381H2022H5971H6950H175H559H6965H6213H430H3212H6440H4872H376H5927H776H4714H30452Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me."H175H559H6561H2091H5141H241H802H1121H1323H9353So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.H5971H6561H2091H5141H241H935H1754He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."H3947H3027H6696H2747H6213H4541H5695H559H430H3478H5927H776H47145When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD."H175H7200H1129H4196H6440H175H7121H559H4279H2282H30686So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.H7925H4283H5927H5930H5066H8002H5971H3427H398H8354H6965H67117Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.H3068H1696H4872H3212H3381H5971H5927H776H4714H78438They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'H5493H4118H1870H6680H6213H4541H5695H7812H2076H559H430H3478H5927H776H47149"I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people.H3068H559H4872H7200H5971H7186H6203H597110Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."H3240H639H2734H3615H6213H1419H147111But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. "O LORD," he said, "why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?H4872H2470H6440H3068H430H559H3068H639H2734H5971H3318H776H4714H1419H3581H2389H302712Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.H4714H559H559H7451H3318H2026H2022H3615H6440H127H7725H2740H639H5162H7451H597113Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.'"H2142H85H3327H3478H5650H7650H1696H7235H2233H3556H8064H776H559H5414H2233H5157H576914Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.H3068H5162H7451H1696H6213H597115Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.H4872H6437H3381H2022H8147H3871H5715H3027H3871H3789H8147H5676H378916The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.H3871H4639H430H4385H4385H430H2801H387117When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, "There is the sound of war in the camp."H3091H8085H6963H5971H7452H559H4872H6963H4421H426418Moses replied: "It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear."H559H6963H6030H1369H6963H6030H2476H6963H6031H808519When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.H7126H4264H7200H5695H4246H4872H639H2734H7993H3871H3027H7665H8478H202220And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.H3947H5695H6213H8313H784H2912H1854H2219H6440H4325H1121H3478H824821He said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?"H4872H559H175H6213H5971H935H1419H240122"Do not be angry, my lord," Aaron answered. "You know how prone these people are to evil.H175H559H639H113H2734H3045H5971H745123They said to me, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him.'H559H6213H430H3212H6440H4872H376H5927H776H4714H304524So I told them, 'Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.' Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!"H559H2091H6561H5414H7993H784H3318H569525Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies.H4872H7200H5971H6544H175H6544H8103H696526So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, "Whoever is for the LORD, come to me." And all the Levites rallied to him.H4872H5975H8179H4264H559H3068H1121H3878H62227Then he said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.'"H559H559H3068H430H3478H7760H376H2719H3409H5674H7725H8179H8179H4264H2026H376H251H376H7453H376H713828The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.H1121H3878H6213H1697H4872H5307H5971H3117H7969H505H37629Then Moses said, "You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day."H4872H559H4390H3027H3117H3068H3588H376H1121H251H5414H1293H311730The next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."H4283H4872H559H5971H2398H1419H2401H5927H3068H194H3722H1157H240331So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold.H4872H7725H3068H559H577H5971H2398H1419H2401H6213H430H209132But now, please forgive their sin--but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written."H5375H2403H4229H5612H378933The LORD replied to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book.H3068H559H4872H834H2398H4229H561234Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin."H3212H5148H5971H1696H4397H3212H6440H3117H6485H6485H240335And the LORD struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.H3068H5062H5971H834H6213H5695H834H175H6213