The Golden Calf
(Deuteronomy 9:7–29; Acts 7:39–43)

1And the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, and the people gathered together against Aaron and they said to him, “Arise, make for us gods who will go before our faces. For this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.†”

2And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden rings that are in the ears of your⁺ wives, your⁺ sons, and your⁺ daughters, and bring them to me.”

3And all the people broke off the golden rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4And he took it from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool and he made a molten calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”

5And Aaron saw, and he built an altar before its face. And Aaron proclaimed and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to YHWH.”

6And they rose early on the next day, and they offered burnt offerings, and they brought near peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and they rose up to play.†

7And YHWH said to Moses, “Go, descend; for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8They have turned aside quickly from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and they have bowed down to it, and they have sacrificed to it and they have said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”

9And YHWH said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10And now, leave Me alone, and My anger may burn hot against them, and I may consume them. And I will make you into a great nation.”

11And Moses pleaded the face of YHWH his God, and he said, “Why, O YHWH, does Your anger burn hot against Your people, whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12Why should Egypt speak, saying, ‘In evil He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent over the evil against Your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants whom You swore to them by Yourself, and You said to them, ‘I will multiply your⁺ seed as the stars of the heavens, and all this land, that I have said, I give to your⁺ seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

14And YHWH relented from the evil that He spoke to do to His people.

15And Moses turned, and he went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on their two sides—on this and on that they were written. 16And the tablets, they were the work of God; and the writing, it was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.

17And Joshua heard the voice of the people in their shouting, and he said to Moses, “A voice of war is in the camp.”

18And he said,

“It is not a voice of responses of might, and it is not a voice of responses of weakness;

I hear a voice of singing.”

19And it came to pass as soon as he came near to the camp that he saw the calf and the dancing; and the anger of Moses burned, and he cast from his hands the tablets, and he shattered them at the base of the mountain. 20And he took the calf that they had made, and he burned it in the fire, and he ground it until it was powder, and he scattered it over the face of the waters, and made the sons of Israel drink it.

21And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought upon them a great sin?”

22And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn. You have known the people, that it is in evil. 23And they said to me, ‘Make for us gods who shall go before our faces. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

24And I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, let them break it off.’ And they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out.”

25And Moses saw the people, that they were unrestrained—for Aaron had not restrained them, unto derision among their enemies. 26And Moses stood in the entrance of the camp and said, “Who is for YHWH? Come to me!”

And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.

27And he said to them, “Thus says YHWH God of Israel, ‘Put each man his sword on his side, pass over and turn back from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each man kill his brother, and each man his companion, and each man his neighbor.’”

28And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell from the people in that day about three thousand men.

29And Moses said, “Fill your⁺ hand† today for YHWH—for each man is against his son and against his brother—that He may bestow on you⁺ this day a blessing.”

30And it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, “You⁺—you⁺ have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to YHWH; perhaps I may make atonement for your⁺ sin.”

31And Moses returned to YHWH and said, “Oh, this people has sinned a great sin, and they have made for themselves gods of gold. 32And now, if You will forgive their sin—. and if not, blot me out, please, from Your book that You have written.”

33And YHWH said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out from My book. 34And now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My angel shall go before your face. And in the day of My charging, then I will charge upon them their sin.”

35And YHWH struck the people because of what they made the calf that Aaron had made.