Exodus 32
1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people collected together to Aaron, and said to him, Up, make us a god, who will go before us; for this Moses, the man that has brought us up out of the land of Egypt, — we do not know what is become of him!
When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us an idol that will go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.”
2 And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden rings that are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring [them] to me.
So Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden rings that are on your wives' ears, and the ears of your sons and daughters, and bring them to me.”
3 Then all the people broke off the golden rings that were in their ears, and brought [them] to Aaron.
All the people took off the golden rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.
4 And he took [them] out of their hand, and fashioned it with a chisel and made of it a molten calf: and they said, This is thy god, Israel, who has brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!
He received the gold from them, fashioned it in a mold, and made it into a molded calf. Then the people said, “Israel, this is your god who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
5 And Aaron saw [it], and built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to Jehovah!
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before the calf and made a proclamation; he said, “Tomorrow will be a festival in Yahweh's honor.”
6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered up burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to sport.
The people arose early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought fellowship offerings. Then they sat down to eat and to drink, and then got up to carouse in wild celebration.
7 Then Jehovah said to Moses, Away, go down! for thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, is acting corruptly.
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go quickly, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them: they have made themselves a molten calf, and have bowed down to it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, This is thy god, Israel, who has brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!
They have quickly left the way that I commanded them. They have molded for themselves a calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it. They have said, 'Israel, this is your god who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.'”
9 And Jehovah said to Moses, I see this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen this people. Look, they are a stiff-necked people.
10 And now let me alone, that my anger may burn against them, and I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation.
Now then, do not try to stop me. My anger will burn hot against them, so I will destroy them. Then I will make a great nation from you.”
11 And Moses besought Jehovah his God, and said, Why, Jehovah, doth thy wrath burn against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand?
But Moses tried to calm down Yahweh his God. He said, “Yahweh, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12 Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, For misfortune he has brought them out, to slay them on the mountains, and to annihilate them from the face of the earth? Turn from the heat of thine anger, and repent of this evil against thy people!
Why should the Egyptians say, 'He led them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth?' Turn from your burning anger and relent from this punishment on your people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou sworest by thyself, and saidst to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they shall possess [it] for ever!
Call to mind Abraham and Isaac and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, 'I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the heavens, and I will give to your descendants all this land of which I have spoken. They will inherit it forever.'”
14 And Jehovah repented of the evil that he had said he would do to his people.
Then Yahweh relented from the punishment that he had said he would inflict on his people.
15 And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, [with] the two tables of the testimony in his hand — tables written on both their sides: on this side and on that were they written.
Then Moses turned around and went down the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the covenant decrees in his hand. The tablets were written on both their sides, on both the front and the back.
16 And the tables [were] God's work, and the writing was God's writing, engraven on the tables.
The tablets were God's own work, and the writing was God's own writing, engraved on the tablets.
17 And Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, and said to Moses, There is a shout of war in the camp.
When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is the noise of combat in the camp.”
18 And he said, It is not the sound of a shout of victory, neither is it the sound of a shout of defeat: it is the noise of alternate singing I hear.
But Moses said, “It is not the sound of a victor, and not the sound of defeated people, but the sound of singing that I hear.”
19 And it came to pass, when he came near the camp, and saw the calf and the dancing, that Moses' anger burned, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and shattered them beneath the mountain.
When Moses approached the camp, he saw the calf and the people dancing. He became very angry. He threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the bottom of the mountain.
20 And he took the calf that they had made, and burned [it] with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed [it] on the water, and made the children of Israel drink [it].
He took the calf that the people had made, burned it, ground it to powder, and poured it into the water. Then he made the people of Israel drink it.
21 And Moses said to Aaron, What has this people done to thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin on them?
Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such a great sin on them?”
22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord burn! thou knowest the people, that they are [set] on mischief.
Aaron said, “Do not let your anger burn hot, my master. You know these people, how they are set on doing evil.
23 And they said to me, Make us a god, who will go before us; for this Moses, the man that has brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what is become of him!
They said to me, 'Make us a god who will go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'
24 And I said to them, Who has gold? They broke [it] off, and gave [it] me, and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
So I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let him take it off.' They gave me the gold and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
25 And Moses saw the people how they were stripped; for Aaron had stripped them to [their] shame before their adversaries.
Moses saw that the people were running wild (for Aaron had let them get out of control, causing their enemies to mock them).
26 And Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, He that is for Jehovah, [let him come] to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered to him.
Then Moses stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is on Yahweh's side, come to me.” All the Levites gathered around him.
27 And he said to them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Put every man his sword upon his hip; go and return from gate to gate through the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbour.
He said to them, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says this: 'Let each man fasten his sword on his side and go back and forth from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and kill his brother, his companion, and his neighbor.'”
28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
The Levites did what Moses ordered. That day about three thousand of the people died.
29 And Moses said, Consecrate yourselves to-day to Jehovah, yea, every man with his son, and with his brother, and bring on yourselves a blessing to-day.
Moses said to the Levites, “You have been placed into Yahweh's service today, for each of you has taken action against his son and his brother, so Yahweh might give you a blessing today.”
30 And it came to pass the next day, that Moses said to the people, Ye have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to Jehovah: perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin.
The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a very great sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
31 And Moses returned to Jehovah, and said, Alas, this people has sinned a great sin, and they have made themselves a god of gold!
Moses returned to Yahweh and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin and made themselves an idol of gold.
32 And now, if thou wilt forgive their sin...but if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book that thou hast written.
But now, please forgive their sin; but if you do not, blot me out of the book that you have written.”
33 And Jehovah said to Moses, Whoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, that person I will blot out of my book.
34 And now go, lead the people whither I have told thee: behold, my Angel shall go before thee; but in the day of my visiting I will visit their sin upon them.
So now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. See, my angel will go before you. But on the day that I punish them, I will punish them for their sin.”
35 And Jehovah smote the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron had made.
Yahweh sent a plague on the people because they had made the calf, the one that Aaron made.
