^15–16Moses turned around and came down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of The Testimony. The tablets were written on both sides, front and back. God made the tablets and God wrote the tablets—engraved them.

¹⁷When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting noisily, he said to Moses, “That’s the sound of war in the camp!”

¹⁸But Moses said,

Those aren’t songs of victory,

And those aren’t songs of defeat,

I hear songs of people throwing a party.

^19–20And that’s what it was. When Moses came near to the camp and saw the calf and the people dancing, his anger flared. He threw down the tablets and smashed them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made, melted it down with fire, pulverized it to powder, then scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

²¹Moses said to Aaron, “What on Earth did these people ever do to you that you involved them in this huge sin?”

^22–23Aaron said, “Master, don’t be angry. You know this people and how set on evil they are. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. This Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.’

²⁴“So I said, ‘Who has gold?’ And they took off their jewelry and gave it to me. I threw it in the fire and out came this calf.”

^25–26Moses saw that the people were simply running wild—Aaron had let them run wild, disgracing themselves before their enemies. He took up a position at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is on God’s side, join me!” All the Levites stepped up.

²⁷He then told them, “God’s orders, the God of Israel: ‘Strap on your swords and go to work. Crisscross the camp from one end to the other: Kill brother, friend, neighbor.’ ”

²⁸The Levites carried out Moses’ orders. Three thousand of the people were killed that day.

²⁹Moses said, “You confirmed your ordination today—and at great cost, even killing your sons and brothers! And God has blessed you.”

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