Now when the people saw that Moses ^adelayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled around Aaron and said to him, “Come, ^bmake us ¹a god who will go before us; for ^cthis Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “^aTear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 Then he took the gold from their ¹hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a ^acast metal calf; and they said, “²This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 5 Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” 6 So the next day they got up early and ^aoffered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and ^bthe people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up ^cto engage in lewd behavior.

7 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go ¹down at once, for your people, whom ^ayou brought up from the land of Egypt, have ^bbehaved corruptly. 8 They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. ^aThey have made for themselves a cast metal calf, and have worshiped it and ^bhave sacrificed to it and said, ‘^1cThis is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” 9 ^aThen the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are ^1ban obstinate people. 10 So now ^aleave Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and ^bI will make of you a great nation.”

11 Then ^aMoses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said, “LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should ^athe Egyptians talk, saying, ‘With evil motives He brought them out, to kill them on the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent of doing harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You ^aswore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will ^bmultiply your ¹descendants as the stars of the heavens, and ^call this land of which I have spoken I will give to your ²descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 ^aSo the LORD relented of the harm which He said He would do to His people.

15 ^aThen Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, ^btablets which were written on both ¹sides; they were written on one side and the other. 16 The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. 17 Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people ¹as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” 18 But he said,“It is not the sound of the cry of victory,Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat;But I hear the sound of singing.”

19 And it came about, as soon as ¹Moses approached the camp, that ^ahe saw the calf and the people dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and ^bhe threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them to pieces ²at the foot of the mountain. 20 Then ^ahe took the calf which they had made and completely burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.

21 Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” 22 And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, ^athat they are ¹prone to evil. 23 For ^athey said to me, ‘Make ¹a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ Then they gave it to me, and ^aI threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

25 Now when Moses saw that the people were ¹out of control—for Aaron had ^alet them ²get out of control to the point of being an object of ridicule among ³their enemies— 26 Moses then stood at the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. 27 And he said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘Every man of you put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his ¹neighbor.’” 28 So ^athe sons of Levi did ¹as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. 29 Then Moses said, “¹Dedicate yourselves today to the LORD—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.”

30 And on the next day Moses said to the people, “^aYou yourselves have ¹committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the LORD; perhaps I can ^bmake atonement for your sin.” 31 Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, this people has ¹committed a great sin, and they have made a ^agod of gold for themselves! 32 But now, if You will forgive their sin, very well; but if not, please wipe me out from Your ^abook which You have written!” 33 However, the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, ^aI will wipe him out of My book. 34 But go now, lead the people ^awhere I told you. Behold, ^bMy angel shall go before you; nevertheless ^con the day when I ¹punish, ^dI will ²punish them for their sin.” 35 ^aThen the LORD struck the people with a plague, because of ^bwhat they did with the calf which Aaron had made.