Exodus 32:1–14

The Gold Calf

32Now when the people saw that Moses ^adelayed coming down from the mountain, the people ^bgathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ^c“Come, make us ¹gods that shall ^dgo before us; for as for this Moses, the man who ^ebrought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

²And Aaron said to them, “Break off the ^fgolden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. ^4gAnd he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf.

Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that ^hbrought you out of the land of Egypt!”

⁵So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a ⁱproclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.” ⁶Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people ^jsat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

⁷And the Lord said to Moses, ^k“Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt ^lhave corrupted themselves. ⁸They have turned aside quickly out of the way which ^mI commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ⁿ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ ” ⁹And the Lord said to Moses, ^o“I have seen this people, and indeed it is a ²stiff-necked people! ¹⁰Now therefore, ^plet Me alone, that ^qMy wrath may burn hot against them and I may ³consume them. And ^rI will make of you a great nation.”

^11sThen Moses pleaded with ⁴the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ^12tWhy should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and ^urelent from this harm to Your people. ¹³Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You ^vswore by Your own self, and said to them, ^w‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” ¹⁴So the Lord ^xrelented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.