32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, Get up, make gods for us, which will go before us. Because as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
32:2 And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your* wives, of your* sons and of your* daughters and bring them to me. 32:3 And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
32:4 And he received it at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it a molten calf. And they said, These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 32:5And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, Tomorrow will be a feast to Jehovah.
32:6 And they rose up early on the next-day and offered burnt-offerings and brought peace-offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.
32:7 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, Go, get down, because your people, that you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 32:8They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made for them a molten calf and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
32:9 And Jehovah said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 32:10Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may grow hot against them and that I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.
32:11 And Moses besought Jehovah his God and said, Jehovah, why does your wrath grow hot against your people, whom you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 32:12 Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, He brought them forth for evil, to kill them on the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath and relent of this evil against your people.
32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, I will multiply your* seed as the stars of heaven. And all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your* seed and they will inherit it everlasting.
32:14 And Jehovah relented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.
32:15 And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both their sides; they were written on the one side and on the other. 32:16And the tablets were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets.
32:17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, A noise of war is in the camp. 32:18 And he said, It is not the voice of those who sing for might, neither is it the voice of those who sing of defeat, but I hear just the voice of those who sing.
32:19 And it happened, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses' anger grew hot and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them beneath the mountain. 32:20And he took the calf which they had made and burnt it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it upon the water and made the sons of Israel drink of it.
32:21 And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you, that you have brought a great sin upon them?
32:22 And Aaron said, Do not let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.
32:23 They said to me, Make gods for us, which will go before us. Because as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
32:24And I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it to me and I cast it into the fire and out came this calf.
32:25 And when Moses saw that the people were broken loose, (because Aaron had let them loose for a whisper among their enemies,) 32:26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, Whoever is on Jehovah's side, come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. 32:27 And he said to them, Jehovah, the God of Israel, says thus, Put every man his sword upon his thigh and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp and strike every man his brother and every man his companion and every man his neighbor.
32:28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men fell of the people that day. 32:29 And Moses said, Consecrate yourselves today to Jehovah, yes, every man against his son and against his brother, that he may bestow upon you* a blessing this day.
32:30 And it happened on the next-day, that Moses said to the people, You* have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to Jehovah, perhaps I will make atonement for your* sin.
32:31 And Moses returned to Jehovah and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin and have made gods of gold for them. 32:32 Yet now, if you will forgive their sin– and if not, I beseech you, blot me out of your book which you have written.
32:33 And Jehovah said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book.
32:34 And now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my messenger will go before you. Nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. 32:35 And Jehovah struck the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.