Exodus 32–34

Chapter 32

The Golden Calf

¹Now when the people saw that Moses ^adelayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, ^bmake us ¹a god who will go before us; as for ^cthis Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

²Aaron said to them, “^aTear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

³Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

⁴He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a ^amolten calf; and they said, “¹This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

⁵Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”

⁶So the next day they rose early and ^aoffered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and ^bthe people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up ^cto play.

⁷Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go ¹down at once, for your people, whom ^ayou brought up from the land of Egypt, have ^bcorrupted themselves.

⁸“They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. ^aThey have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and ^bhave sacrificed to it and said, ‘^1cThis is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ ”

^9aThe Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are ^1ban obstinate people.

¹⁰“Now then ^alet Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and ^bI will make of you a great nation.”

Moses’ Entreaty

¹¹Then ^aMoses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

¹²“Why should ^athe Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people.

¹³“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You ^aswore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will ^bmultiply your ¹descendants as the stars of the heavens, and ^call this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”

^14aSo the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.

^15aThen 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.

¹⁶The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets.

¹⁷Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people ¹as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.”

¹⁸But he said,

“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.”

Moses’ Anger

¹⁹It 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.

^20aHe 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.

²¹Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?”

²²Aaron 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.”

²⁵Now 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—

²⁶then 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.

²⁷He 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.’ ”

²⁸So ^athe sons of Levi did ¹as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.

²⁹Then 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.”

³⁰On 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.”

³¹Then 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!”

³³The 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.”

^35aThen the Lord smote the people, because of ^bwhat they did with the calf which Aaron had made.

Chapter 33

The Journey Resumed

¹Then 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.”

⁴When the people heard this ¹sad word, ^athey went into mourning, and none of them put on his ornaments.

⁵For 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.’ ”

⁶So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

⁷Now 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.

⁸And 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.

⁹Whenever 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.

¹⁰When 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.

¹¹Thus ^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.

Moses Intercedes

¹²Then 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.”

¹⁴And He said, “^aMy presence shall go with you, and ^bI will give you rest.”

¹⁵Then 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?”

¹⁷The 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.”

^18aThen ¹Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”

¹⁹And 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.”

²⁰But He said, “You cannot see My face, ^afor no man can see Me and live!”

²¹Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place ¹by Me, and ^ayou shall stand there on the rock;

²²and 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.”

Chapter 34

The Two Tablets Replaced

¹Now 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.”

⁴So 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.

^5aThe Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as ¹he called upon the…