Exodus 32:15–34:26
15 aThen Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, btablets which were written on both 1sides; they were written on one side and the other.
16 The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets.
17 Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people 1as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.”
“It is not the sound of the cry of triumph,
Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat;
But the sound of singing I hear.”
19 It came about, as soon as 1Moses came near the camp, that ahe saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and bhe threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them 2at the foot of the mountain.
20 aHe took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.
21 Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?”
22 Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, athat they are 1prone to evil.
23 “For athey said to me, ‘Make 1a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’
24 “I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ So they gave it to me, and aI threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
25 Now when Moses saw that the people were 1out of control—for Aaron had alet them 2get out of control to be a derision among 3their enemies—
26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him.
27 He said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his 1neighbor.’ ”
28 So athe sons of Levi did 1as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.
29 Then Moses said, “1Dedicate yourselves today to the Lord—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.”
30 On the next day Moses said to the people, “aYou yourselves have 1committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the Lord, perhaps I can bmake atonement for your sin.”
31 Then Moses returned to the Lord, and said, “Alas, this people has 1committed a great sin, and they have made 2a agod of gold for themselves.
32 “But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your abook which You have written!”
33 The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, aI will blot him out of My book.
34 “But go now, lead the people awhere I told you. Behold, bMy angel shall go before you; nevertheless cin the day when I 1punish, dI will 2punish them for their sin.”
35 aThen the Lord smote the people, because of bwhat they did with the calf which Aaron had made.
1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which aI swore to Abraham, bIsaac, and cJacob, saying, ‘dTo your 1descendants I will give it.’
2 “I will send aan angel before you and bI will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.
3 “Go up to a land aflowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are 1ban obstinate people, and cI might destroy you on the way.”
4 When the people heard this 1sad word, athey went into mourning, and none of them put on his ornaments.
5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are 1aan obstinate people; should I go up in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you. Now therefore, put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what I shall do with you.’ ”
6 So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.
7 Now Moses used to take athe tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And beveryone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp.
8 And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent.
9 Whenever Moses entered the tent, athe pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; band 1the Lord would speak with Moses.
10 When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of his tent.
11 Thus athe Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When 1Moses returned to the camp, bhis servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘aBring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know bwhom You will send with me. cMoreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’
13 “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, alet me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. bConsider too, that this nation is Your people.”
14 And He said, “aMy presence shall go with you, and bI will give you rest.”
15 Then he said to Him, “aIf Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.
16 “For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that awe, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the 1earth?”
17 The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; afor you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.”
18 aThen 1Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”
19 And He said, “aI Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and bI will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”
20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, afor no man can see Me and live!”
21 Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place 1by Me, and ayou shall stand there on the rock;
22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and acover you with My hand until I have passed by.
23 “Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but aMy face shall not be seen.”
1 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Cut out for yourself atwo stone tablets like the former ones, and bI will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered.
2 “So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to aMount Sinai, and 1present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain.
3 “aNo man is to come up with you, nor let any man be seen 1anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and the herds may not graze in front of that mountain.”
4 So he cut out atwo stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand.
5 aThe Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as 1he called upon the name of the Lord.
6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, acompassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and 1truth;
7 who akeeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He bwill by no means leave the guilty unpunished, cvisiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
8 Moses made haste 1ato bow low toward the earth and worship.
9 He said, “aIf now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though 1bthe people are so obstinate, and cpardon our iniquity and our sin, and dtake us as Your own 2possession.”
10 Then 1God said, “Behold, aI am going to make a covenant. Before all your people bI will perform miracles which have not been 2produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people 3among whom you live will see the working of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you.
11 “1Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day: behold, aI am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.
12 “aWatch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst.
13 “aBut rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their 1bAsherim
14 —for ayou shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—
15 otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and asacrifice to their gods, and someone bmight invite you 1to eat of his sacrifice,
16 and ayou might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods.
17 “aYou shall make for yourself no molten gods.
18 “You shall observe athe Feast of Unleavened Bread. For bseven days you are to eat unleavened bread, 1as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the cmonth of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.
19 “aThe first offspring from every womb belongs to Me, and all your male livestock, the first offspring from 1cattle and sheep.
20 “aYou shall redeem with a lamb the 1first offspring from a donkey; and if you do not …