1WHEN the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, they gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said to him, Arise, make us gods that they may go before us; as for this man Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. 2And Aaron said to them, Remove the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me. 3So all the people removed the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4And he received them, and drew a design, and made it a molten calf; and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 5And Aaron was afraid, and he built an altar before it; then Aaron made a proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD. 6And they rose up early on the morrow and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play and to quarrel.

7And the LORD said to Moses, Go down, get away from here; for your people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves; 8They have turned aside quickly from the way which I commanded them; they have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, This is your god, O Israel, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt. 9And the LORD said to Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold it is a stiff-necked people; 10Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may be kindled against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.

11But Moses prayed before the LORD his God and said, Not so, O LORD, let not thy wrath kindle against thy people whom thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. 12Why should the Egyptians say, It was for their injury he did bring them out to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? Rest from thy fierce anger and be reconciled concerning the evil deed of thy people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou didst swear by thine own self and didst say to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars in heaven, and all the land that I have spoken of I will give to thy descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever. 14And the LORD was reconciled concerning the evil which he had purposed to do to his people.

15And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two stone tablets of the testimony were in his hand, the tablets that were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets. 17And when Joshua heard the noise of the people fighting, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.

18Moses said to him, It is not the sound of the cry of mighty men, neither is it the sound of the cry of weak men; but it is the sound of sin that I hear.

19And it came to pass as soon as they came near to the camp, he saw the calf and the cymbals; and Moses' anger raged, and he threw the tablets out of his hand and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and filed it with a file until it was ground into dust, and he scattered it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

21And Moses said to Aaron, What has this people done to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them? 22And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord rage; you yourself know this people, that they are bad. 23For they said to me, Make us gods that they shall go before us; as for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. 24And I said to them, Whosoever has any gold bring it to me. So they brought it to me; then I cast it into the fire, and it became this calf.

25And when Moses saw that the people had sinned; (for Aaron had caused them to sin, and to leave a bad name behind them); 26Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? Let him come to me. And all the Levites gathered themselves together to him. 27And Moses said to them, Thus says the LORD God of Israel: Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from door to door throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, his friend, and his neighbor. 28And the Levites did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. 29And Moses said to them, Strengthen yourselves today before the LORD, every man with his son and with his brother; for a blessing shall come upon you today.

30?And it came to pass on the next day, Moses said to the people, You have sinned this great sin; and now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps he may forgive your transgressions. 31So Moses returned to the LORD and said, I beseech thee, O LORD God, truly this people have sinned a great sin and have made for themselves gods of gold. 32But now, if thou wilt, forgive their sins; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. 33And the LORD said to Moses, Whosoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 34Therefore now go, lead the people to the place where I tell you; behold, my angel shall go before you; nevertheless in the day when I punish I will visit their sins upon them. 35And the LORD smote the people because they worshipped the calf which Aaron made.