Exodus 32:30–33:6

³⁰And^u the next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

³¹And Moses returned to Yahweh, and he said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin and made for themselves gods of gold. ³²And now if you will forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me from your scroll that you have written.” ³³And Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot him from my scroll. ³⁴And now go, lead the people to where I spoke to you. Look, my angel will go before you, and on the day when I punish I will punish them for their sin.” ³⁵And Yahweh afflicted the people because they had made the bull calf that Aaron had made.

Command to Resume Travel

33And Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ ²And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites,^a the Amorites,^b and the Hittites^c and the Perizzites,^d the Hivites,^e and the Jebusites,^{f 3}Go to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up among you, because you are a stiff-necked people, lest I destroy you on the way.” ⁴And the people heard this troubling^g word, and they mourned, and they each did not put their ornaments on themselves.

⁵And Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites,^h ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if one moment I were to go up among you, I would destroy you. And now take down your ornaments from on you, and I will decideⁱ what I will do to you.” ⁶And the Israelites^j stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward.