Exodus 32–34

THE GOLD CALF

32When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!”^j

²Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings^k that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.” ³So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴He took the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf.

Then they said, “Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”^l

⁵When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it and made an announcement: “There will be a festival^m to the Lord tomorrow.” ⁶Early the next morning they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented fellowship offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party.ⁿ

⁷The Lord spoke to Moses: “Go down at once! For your people you brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly.^{o 8}They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them; they have made for themselves an image of a calf. They have bowed down to it, sacrificed to it, and said, ‘Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.’ ”^{p 9}The Lord also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked^q people. ¹⁰Now leave me alone, so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”^a

¹¹But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God: “Lord, why does your anger burn against your people you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand? ¹²Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out with an evil intent to kill them in the mountains and eliminate them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger and relent concerning this disaster planned for your people.^{b 13}Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel—you swore to them by yourself^c and declared, ‘I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and will give your offspring all this land that I have promised, and they will inherit it forever.’ ”^{d 14}So the Lord relented^e concerning the disaster he had said he would bring on his people.

¹⁵Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides—inscribed front and back. ¹⁶The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was God’s writing, engraved on the tablets.^f

¹⁷When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.”

¹⁸But Moses replied,

It’s not the sound of a victory cry

and not the sound of a cry of defeat;

I hear the sound of singing!

¹⁹As he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became enraged and threw the tablets out of his hands, smashing them at the base of the mountain. ²⁰He took the calf they had made, burned it up, and ground it to powder. He scattered the powder over the surface of the water and forced the Israelites to drink the water.

²¹Then Moses asked Aaron, “What did these people do to you that you have led them into such a grave sin?”

²²“Don’t be enraged, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know that the people are intent on evil.^{g 23}They said to me, ‘Make gods for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ ²⁴So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off,’ and they gave it to me. When I threw it into the fire, out came this calf!”

²⁵Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them get out of control, making them a laughingstock to their enemies.^{A 26}And Moses stood at the camp’s entrance and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites gathered around him. ²⁷He told them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man fasten his sword to his side; go back and forth through the camp from entrance to entrance, and each of you kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’ ”^{h 28}The Levites did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand men fell dead that day among the people. ²⁹Afterward Moses said, “Today you have been dedicated^B to the Lord, since each man went against his son and his brother. Therefore you have brought a blessing on yourselves today.”ⁱ

³⁰The following day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a grave sin. Now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I will be able to atone for your sin.”^j

³¹So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a grave sin; they have made a god of gold for themselves.^{k 32}Now if you would only forgive their sin. But if not, please erase me from the book you have written.”^l

³³The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will erase from my book.^{m 34}Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about; see, my angel will go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will hold them accountable for their sin.”^{n 35}And the Lord inflicted a plague on the people for what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

THE TENT OUTSIDE THE CAMP

33The Lord spoke to Moses: “Go up from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: I will give it to your offspring.^{o 2}I will send an angel ahead of you and will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites,^C Hivites, and Jebusites.^{p 3}Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up with you because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise, I might destroy you on the way.”^{q 4}When the people heard this bad news, they mourned and didn’t put on their jewelry.^a

⁵For the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites: You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up with you for a single moment, I would destroy you. Now take off your jewelry, and I will decide what to do with you.” ⁶So the Israelites remained stripped of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.

⁷Now Moses took a tent and pitched it outside the camp, at a distance from the camp; he called it the tent of meeting. Anyone who wanted to consult the Lord would go to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp.^{b 8}Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would stand up, each one at the door of his tent, and they would watch Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and remain at the entrance to the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses.^{c 10}As all the people saw the pillar of cloud remaining at the entrance to the tent, they would stand up, then bow in worship, each one at the door of his tent. ¹¹The Lord would speak with Moses face to face, just as a man speaks with his friend, then Moses would return to the camp. His assistant, the young man Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the inside of the tent.^d

THE LORD’S GLORY

¹²Moses said to the Lord, “Look, you have told me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You said, ‘I know you by name,^e and you have also found favor with me.’ ¹³Now if I have indeed found favor with you, please teach me your ways,^f and I will know you, so that I may find favor with you. Now consider that this nation is your people.”^g

¹⁴And he replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”^h

¹⁵“If your presence does not go,” Moses responded to him, “don’t make us go up from here. ¹⁶How will it be known that I and your people have found favor with you unless you go with us? I and your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the earth.”ⁱ

¹⁷The Lord answered Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and I know you by name.”

¹⁸Then Moses said, “Please, let me see your glory.”^j

¹⁹He said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘the Lord’ before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”^{k 20}But he added, “You cannot see my face, for humans cannot see^l me and live.” ²¹The Lord said, “Here is a place near me. You are to stand on the rock, ²²and when my glory passes by, I will put you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.^{m 23}Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back, but my face will not be seen.”

NEW STONE TABLETS

34The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.^{n 2}Be prepared by morning. Come up Mount Sinai in the morning and stand before me on the mountaintop. ³No one may go up with you; in fact, no one should be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.”^o

⁴Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning, and taking the two stone tablets in his hand, he climbed Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him.

⁵The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.” ⁶The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:

The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth,^{p 7}maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin.^q But he will not leave the guilty^r unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

⁸Moses immediately knelt low on the ground and worshiped. ⁹Then he said, “My Lord, if I have indeed found favor with you, my Lord, please go with us (even though this is a stiff-necked people), forgive our iniquity and our sin, and accept…