Exodus 32:20–34

^20bThen he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it. ²¹And Moses said to Aaron, ^c“What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?”

²²So Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. ^dYou know the people, that they are set on evil. ²³For they said to me, ‘Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ²⁴And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out.”

²⁵Now when Moses saw that the people were ^eunrestrained (for Aaron ^fhad not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), ²⁶then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side—come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. ²⁷And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and ^glet every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ ” ²⁸So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day. ^29hThen Moses said, ⁵“Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother.”

³⁰Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, ⁱ“You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; ^jperhaps I can ^kmake atonement for your sin.” ³¹Then Moses ^lreturned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have ^mmade for themselves a god of gold! ³²Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, ⁿblot me ^oout of Your book which You have written.”

³³And the Lord said to Moses, ^p“Whoever has sinned against Me, I will ^qblot him out of My book. ³⁴Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have ^rspoken to you. ^sBehold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, ^tin the day when I ^uvisit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.”