Exodus 32Book 2 of 66 · 35 verses · MBT primary, NKJV fallback where MBT pending

  1. Now when the people saw how long Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for 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."
  2. So Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."
  3. So all the people tore off the golden rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
  4. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf, and they said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"
  5. So when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow will be a feast to the LORD."
  6. Then they rose early the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.
  7. And the LORD said to Moses, "Go, get down at once! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.
  8. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them, they have made for themselves a molded calf and worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'
  9. And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are indeed a stiff-necked people!"
  10. Now therefore, leave Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may destroy them, and I will make of you a great nation.
  11. Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God and said, "LORD, why does Your anger burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
  12. Why should the Egyptians speak and say, 'With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your burning anger and relent from this disaster against Your people.
  13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'
  14. So the LORD relented from the terrible harm which He said He would bring on His people.
  15. And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two stone tablets of the Testimony were in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides, on the front and on the back they were written.
  16. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God himself engraved on the tablets.
  17. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a sound of war in the camp."
  18. But he said, "It is not the sound of the shout of victory, nor the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing I hear."
  19. So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.
  20. Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and he scattered it over the surface of the water and made the children of Israel drink it.
  21. And Moses said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?"
  22. So Aaron said, "Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot. You yourself know the people, that they are prone to evil.
  23. For they said to me, 'Make us gods who will 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. And I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold jewelry, let them break it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.
  25. Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies.
  26. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Whoever is on the LORD's side—come to me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.
  27. And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Let every man put his sword on his side, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.'"
  28. So the sons of Levi did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand men of the people fell dead that day.
  29. Then Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, each one even at the cost of your son and your brother, so that He may bestow a blessing upon you this day."
  30. The next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a terrible sin, so now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."
  31. Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Oh, what a terrible sin these people have committed, and they have made for themselves a god of gold!
  32. Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, erase me out of Your book which You have written.
  33. And the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot out of My book.
  34. Now therefore go, lead the people to the place I have told you about; behold, My angel shall go before you, but on the day when I settle accounts, I will certainly hold them accountable for their sin.
  35. So the LORD sent a plague on the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.