Exodus 32:30–33:6

³⁰The next day Moses told the people, “You have done a terrible sin. But now I will go up to the Lord. Maybe I can do something so your sins will be removed.” ³¹So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “How terribly these people have sinned! They have made for themselves gods from gold. ³²Now, please forgive them of this sin. If you will not, then erase my name from the book in which you have written the names of your people.”

³³But the Lord told Moses, “I will erase from my book the names of the people who sin against me. ³⁴So now, go. Lead the people where I have told you, and my angel will lead you. When the time comes to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

³⁵So the Lord caused terrible things to happen to the people because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

33Then the Lord said to Moses, “You and the people you brought out of Egypt must leave this place. Go to the land that I promised with an oath to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give that land to your descendants.’ ²I will send an angel to lead you, and I will force these people out of the land: the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ³Go up to a fertile land. But I will not go with you, because I might destroy you on the way, since you are such a stubborn people.”

⁴When the people heard this bad news, they became very sad, and none of them put on jewelry. ⁵This was because the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stubborn people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I would destroy you. So take off all your jewelry, and I will decide what to do with you.’ ” ⁶So the people of Israel took off their jewelry at Mount Sinai.