Exodus 32:1–9

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.