Exodus 32:15–29

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.’