32And the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, and the people gathered opposite Aaron, and they said to him, “Come,^a make for us gods who will go before us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

²And Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring it to me.” ³And all the people took off the rings of gold that were on their ears and brought it to Aaron. ⁴And he took from their hand, and he shaped it with a tool, and he made it a cast-image bull calf, and they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

⁵And Aaron saw, and he built an altar before it, and Aaron called, and he said, “A feast for Yahweh tomorrow.” ⁶And they started early the next day, and they offered burnt offerings, and they presented fellowship offerings, and the people sat to eat and drink, and they rose up to revel.

⁷And Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, go down because your people behave corruptly, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt. ⁸They have turned aside quickly from the way that I commanded them; they have made for themselves a cast-image bull calf, and they bowed to it, and they sacrificed to it, and they said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.’ ”

⁹And Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and, indeed, they are a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰And now leave me alone so that my anger may blaze^b against them, and let me destroy them, and I will make you into a great nation.”

¹¹And Moses implored Yahweh^c his God, and he said, “Why, Yahweh, should your anger blaze^d against your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand? ¹²Why should the Egyptians say^e, ‘With evil intent he brought them out to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’?^f Turn from your fierce anger^g and relent concerning the disaster for your people. ¹³Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself, and you told them, ‘I will multiply your offspring like the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I promised I will give to your offspring, and they will inherit it forever.’ ”

¹⁴And Yahweh relented concerning the disaster that he had threatened^h to do to his people.

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Footnotes

aOr “arise” or “get up”
bLiterally “my nose may become hot”
cLiterally “implored the face of Yahweh”
dLiterally “your nose become hot”
eLiterally “say, saying”
fOr “ground”
gLiterally “the heat of your nose”
hLiterally “spoken”