Exodus 32–34

¹And the people see that Moses is delaying to come down from the mount, and the people assemble against Aaron, and say unto him, ‘Rise, make for us gods who go before us, for this Moses—the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt—we have not known what hath happened to him.’ ²And Aaron saith unto them, ‘Break off the rings of gold which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring in unto me;’ ³and all the people themselves break off the rings of gold which are in their ears, and bring in unto Aaron, ⁴and he receiveth from their hand, and doth fashion it with a graving tool, and doth make it a molten calf, and they say, ‘These thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.’ ⁵And Aaron seeth, and buildeth an altar before it, and Aaron calleth, and saith, ‘A festival to Jehovah—to-morrow;’ ⁶and they rise early on the morrow, and cause burnt-offerings to ascend, and bring nigh peace-offerings; and the people sit down to eat and to drink, and rise up to play.

⁷And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Go, descend, for thy people whom thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt hath done corruptly, ⁸they have turned aside hastily from the way that I have commanded them; they have made for themselves a molten calf, and bow themselves to it, and sacrifice to it, and say, These thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.’ ⁹And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘I have seen this people, and lo, it is a stiff-necked people; ¹⁰and now, let Me alone, and My anger doth burn against them, and I consume them, and I make thee become a great nation.’ ¹¹And Moses appeaseth the face of Jehovah his God, and saith, ‘Why, O Jehovah, doth Thine anger burn against Thy people, whom Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand? ¹²why do the Egyptians speak, saying, For evil He brought them out to slay them among mountains, and to consume them from off the face of the ground? turn back from the heat of Thine anger, and repent of the evil against Thy people.

¹³‘Be mindful of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou hast sworn by Thyself, and unto whom Thou speakest: I multiply your seed as stars of the heavens, and all this land, as I have said, I give to your seed, and they have inherited to the age;’ ¹⁴and Jehovah repenteth of the evil which He hath spoken of doing to His people.

¹⁵And Moses turneth, and goeth down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony are in his hand, tables written on both their sides, on this and on that are they written; ¹⁶and the tables are the work of God, and the writing is the writing of God, graven on the tables. ¹⁷And Joshua heareth the voice of the people in their shouting, and saith unto Moses, ‘A noise of battle in the camp!’ ¹⁸and he saith, ‘It is not the voice of the crying of might, nor is it the voice of the crying of weakness—a voice of singing I am hearing.’ ¹⁹And it cometh to pass, when he hath drawn near unto the camp, that he seeth the calf, and the dancing, and the anger of Moses burneth, and he casteth out of his hands the tables, and breaketh them under the mount; ²⁰and he taketh the calf which they have made, and burneth it with fire, and grindeth until it is small, and scattereth on the face of the waters, and causeth the sons of Israel to drink.

²¹And Moses saith unto Aaron, ‘What hath this people done to thee, that thou hast brought in upon it a great sin?’ ²²and Aaron saith, ‘Let not the anger of my lord burn; thou—thou hast known the people that it is in evil; ²³and they say to me, Make for us gods, who go before us, for this Moses—the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt—we have not known what hath happened to him; ²⁴and I say to them, Whoso hath gold, let them break it off, and they give to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf cometh out.’ ²⁵And Moses seeth the people that it is unbridled, for Aaron hath made it unbridled for contempt among its withstanders, ²⁶and Moses standeth in the gate of the camp, and saith, ‘Who is for Jehovah?—unto me!’ and all the sons of Levi are gathered unto him; ²⁷and he saith to them, ‘Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Put each his sword by his thigh, pass over and turn back from gate to gate through the camp, and slay each his brother, and each his friend, and each his relation.’ ²⁸And the sons of Levi do according to the word of Moses, and there fall of the people on that day about three thousand men, ²⁹and Moses saith, ‘Consecrate your hand to-day to Jehovah, for a man is against his son, and against his brother, so as to bring on you to-day a blessing.’

³⁰And it cometh to pass, on the morrow, that Moses saith unto the people, ‘Ye—ye have sinned a great sin, and now I go up unto Jehovah, if so be I atone for your sin.’ ³¹And Moses turneth back unto Jehovah, and saith, ‘Oh this people hath sinned a great sin, that they make to themselves a god of gold; ³²and now, if Thou takest away their sin—and if not—blot me, I pray thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written.’ ³³And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Whoso hath sinned against Me—I blot him out of My book; ³⁴and now, go, lead the people whithersoever I have spoken to thee of; lo, My messenger goeth before thee, and in the day of my charging—then I have charged upon them their sin.’ ³⁵And Jehovah plagueth the people, because they made the calf which Aaron made.

Chapter 33

¹And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, ‘Go, ascend from this place, thou and the people, whom thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I have sworn to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, To thy seed I give it,’ ²(and I have sent before thee a messenger, and have cast out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite,) ³unto a land flowing with milk and honey, for I do not go up in thy midst, for thou art a stiff-necked people—lest I consume thee in the way.’ ⁴And the people hear this sad thing, and mourn; and none put his ornaments on him. ⁵And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Say unto the sons of Israel, Ye are a stiff-necked people; one moment—I come up into thy midst, and have consumed thee; and now, put down thine ornaments from off thee, and I know what I do to thee;’ ⁶and the sons of Israel take off their ornaments at mount Horeb.

⁷And Moses taketh the tent, and hath stretched it out at the outside of the camp, afar off from the camp, and hath called it, ‘Tent of Meeting;’ and it hath come to pass, every one seeking Jehovah goeth out unto the tent of meeting, which is at the outside of the camp. ⁸And it hath come to pass, at the going out of Moses unto the tent, all the people rise, and have stood, each at the opening of his tent, and have looked expectingly after Moses, until his going into the tent. ⁹And it hath come to pass, at the going in of Moses to the tent, the pillar of the cloud cometh down, and hath stood at the opening of the tent, and He hath spoken with Moses; ¹⁰and all the people have seen the pillar of the cloud standing at the opening of the tent, and all the people have risen and bowed themselves, each at the opening of his tent. ¹¹And Jehovah hath spoken unto Moses face unto face, as a man speaketh unto his friend; and he hath turned back unto the camp, and his minister Joshua, son of Nun, a youth, departeth not out of the tent.

¹²And Moses saith unto Jehovah, ‘See, Thou art saying unto me, Bring up this people, and Thou hast not caused me to know whom Thou dost send with me; and Thou hast said, I have known thee by name, and also thou hast found grace in Mine eyes.

¹³‘And now, if, I pray Thee, I have found grace in Thine eyes, cause me to know, I pray Thee, Thy way, and I know Thee, so that I find grace in Thine eyes, and consider that this nation is Thy people;’ ¹⁴and He saith, ‘My presence doth go, and I have given rest to thee.’ ¹⁵And he saith unto Him, ‘If Thy presence is not going—take us not up from this place; ¹⁶and in what is it known now, that I have found grace in Thine eyes—I and Thy people—is it not in Thy going with us? and we have been distinguished—I and Thy people—from all the people who are on the face of the ground.’ ¹⁷And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Even this thing which thou hast spoken I do; for thou hast found grace in Mine eyes, and I know thee by name.’ ¹⁸And he saith, ‘Shew me, I pray Thee, Thine honour;’ ¹⁹and He saith, ‘I cause all My goodness to pass before thy face, and have called concerning the Name of Jehovah before thee, and favoured him whom I favour, and loved him whom I love.’ ²⁰He saith also, ‘Thou art unable to see My face, for man doth not see Me, and live;’ ²¹Jehovah also saith, ‘Lo, a place is by Me, and thou hast stood on the rock, ²²and it hath come to pass, in the passing by of Mine honour, that I have set thee in a cleft of the rock, and spread out My hands over thee, until My passing by, ²³and I have turned aside My hands, and thou hast seen My back parts, and My face is not seen.’

Chapter 34

¹And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Hew for thyself two tables of stone like the first, and I have written on the tables the words which were on the first tables which thou hast broken; ²and be prepared at morning, and thou hast come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and hast stood before Me there, on the top of the mount, ³and no man cometh up with thee, and also no man is seen in all the mount, also the flock and the herd do not feed over-against that mount.’ ⁴And he heweth two tables of stone like the first, and Moses riseth early in the morning, and goeth up unto mount Sinai, as Jehovah commanded him, and he taketh in his hand two tables of stone.

⁵And Jehovah cometh down in a cloud, and stationeth Himself with him there, and calleth in the Name of Jehovah, ⁶and Jehovah passeth over before his face, and calleth: ‘Jehovah, Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness and truth, ⁷keeping kindness for thousands, taking away iniquity, and…