Exodus 32
1 And the people see that Moses is delaying to come down from the mountain, and the people assemble against Aaron, and say to him, “Rise, make gods for us, who go before us, for this Moses—the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt—we have not known what has happened to him.”
And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people combined against Aaron, and said to him, Arise and make us gods who shall go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us forth out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what is become of him.
2 And Aaron says to them, “Break off the rings of gold which [are] in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring [them] to me”;
And Aaron says to them, Take off the golden ear-rings which are in the ears of your wives and daughters, and bring them to me.
3 and all the people break off the rings of gold which [are] in their ears, and bring [them] to Aaron,
And all the people took off the golden ear-rings that were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
4 and he receives [it] from their hand, and fashions it with an engraving tool, and makes it [into] a molten calf, and they say, “These [are] your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
And he received them at their hands, and formed them with a graving tool; and he made them a molten calf, and said, These [are] your gods, O Israel, which have brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And Aaron sees, and builds an altar before it, and Aaron calls, and says, “A festival to YHWH—tomorrow”;
And Aaron having seen it built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation saying, To-morrow [is] a feast of the Lord.
6 and they rise early on the next day, and cause burnt-offerings to ascend, and bring peace-offerings near; and the people sit down to eat and to drink, and rise up to play.
And having risen early on the morrow, he offered whole burnt offerings, and offered a peace-offering; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
7 And YHWH says to Moses, “Go, descend, for your people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt have done corruptly,
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Go quickly, descend hence, for your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have transgressed;
8 they have quickly turned aside from the way that I have commanded them; they have made a molten calf for themselves, and bow themselves to it, and sacrifice to it, and say, These [are] your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
they have quickly gone out of the way which you commanded; they have made for themselves a calf, and worshipped it, and sacrificed to it, and said,
9 And YHWH says to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it [is] a stiff-necked people;
These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
10 and now, leave Me alone, and My anger burns against them, and I consume them, and I make you become a great nation.”
And now let me alone, and I will be very angry with them and consume them, and I will make you a great nation.
11 And Moses appeases the face of his God YHWH and says, “Why, O YHWH, does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand?
And Moses prayed before the Lord God, and said, Therefore, O Lord, are you very angry with your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great strength, and with your high arm?
12 Why do the Egyptians speak, saying, He brought them out in calamity to slay them among mountains, and to consume them from off the face of the ground? Turn back from the heat of Your anger, and relent from this calamity against Your people.
[Take heed] lest at any time the Egyptians speak, saying, With evil intent he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from off the earth; cease from your wrathful anger, and be merciful to the sin of your people,
13 Be mindful of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, Your servants, to whom You have sworn by Yourself, and to whom You speak: I multiply your seed as stars of the heavens, and all this land, as I have said, I give to your seed, and they have inherited [it] for all time”;
remembering Abraam and Isaac and Jacob your servants, to whom you have sworn by yourself, and have spoken to them, saying, I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of heaven for multitude, and all this land which you spoke of to give to them, so that they shall possess it for ever.
14 and YHWH relents from the evil which He has spoken of doing to His people.
And the Lord was prevailed upon to preserve his people.
15 And Moses turns, and goes down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony [are] in his hand, tablets written on both their sides; they [are] written on this [side] and on that [side];
And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tables of testimony were in his hands, tables of stone written on both their sides: they were written within and without.
16 and the tablets are the work of God, and the writing is the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
And the tables were the work of God, and the writing the writing of God written on the tables.
17 And Joshua hears the voice of the people in their shouting and says to Moses, “A noise of battle in the camp!”
And Joshua having heard the voice of the people crying, says to Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
18 And he says, “It is not the voice of the crying of might, nor is it the voice of the crying of weakness—I am hearing a voice of singing.”
And [Moses] says, It is not the voice of them that begin the battle, nor the voice of them that begin [the cry] of defeat, but the voice of them that begin [the banquet] of wine do I hear.
19 And it comes to pass, when he has drawn near to the camp, that he sees the calf, and the dancing, and the anger of Moses burns, and he casts the tablets out of his hands, and breaks them below the mountain;
And when he drew near to the camp, he sees the calf and the dances; and Moses being very angry cast the two tables out of his hands, and broke them to pieces under the mountain.
20 and he takes the calf which they have made, and burns [it] with fire, and grinds [it] until [it is] small, and scatters [it] on the face of the waters, and causes the sons of Israel to drink.
And having taken the calf which they made, he consumed it with fire, and ground it very small, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel to drink it.
21 And Moses says to Aaron, “What has this people done to you, that you have brought in a great sin on it?”
And Moses said to Aaron, What has this people done to you, that you have brought upon them a great sin?
22 And Aaron says, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you have known the people, that it [is beset] with evil;
And Aaron said to Moses, Be not angry, [my] lord, for you know the impetuosity of this people.
23 and they say to me, Make gods for us, who go before us, for this Moses—the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt—we have not known what has happened to him;
For they say to me, Make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what is become of him.
24 and I say to them, Whoever has gold, let them break [it] off, and they give [it] to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf comes out.”
And I said to them, If any one has golden ornaments, take them off; and they gave them me, and I cast them into the fire, and there came out this calf.
25 And Moses sees the people, that it [is] unbridled, for Aaron has made it unbridled for contempt among its withstanders,
And when Moses saw that the people was scattered, —for Aaron [had] scattered them [so as to be] a rejoicing to their enemies, —
26 and Moses stands in the gate of the camp and says, “Who [is] for YHWH? [Come] to me!” And all the sons of Levi are gathered to him;
then stood Moses at the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side? let him come to me. Then all the sons of Levi came to him.
27 and he says to them, “Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: Each put his sword by his thigh, pass over and turn back from gate to gate through the camp, and each slay his brother, and each his friend, and each his relation.”
And he says to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Put every one his sword on his thigh, and go through and return from gate to gate through the camp, and kill every one his brother, and every one his neighbor, and every one him that is nearest to him.
28 And the sons of Levi do according to the word of Moses, and there falls of the people on that day about three thousand men,
And the sons of Levi did as Moses spoke to them, and there fell of the people in that day to the [number of] three thousand men.
29 and Moses says, “Consecrate your hand to YHWH today, for a man [is] against his son, and against his brother, so as to bring a blessing on you today.”
And Moses said to them, You have filled your hands this day to the Lord each one on his son or on his brother, so that blessing should be given to you.
30 And it comes to pass, on the next day, that Moses says to the people, “You have sinned a great sin, and now I go up to YHWH, perhaps I can atone for your sin.”
And it came to pass after the morrow [had begun], that Moses said to the people, You have sinned a great sin; and now I will go up to God, that I may make atonement for your sin.
31 And Moses turns back to YHWH and says, “Ah, now this people has sinned a great sin, that they make a god of gold for themselves;
And Moses returned to the Lord and said, I pray, O Lord, this people has sinned a great sin, and they have made for themselves golden gods.
32 and now, if You take away their sin—and if not—please blot me out of Your scroll which You have written.”
And now if you will forgive their sin, forgive [it]; and if not, blot me out of your book, which you have written.
33 And YHWH says to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me—I blot him out of My scroll;
And the Lord said to Moses, If any one has sinned against me, I will blot them out of my book.
34 and now, go, lead the people wherever I have spoken to you of; behold, My Messenger goes before you, and in the day of my charging—then I have charged their sin on them.”
And now go, descend, and lead this people into the place of which I spoke to you: behold, my angel shall go before your face; and in the day when I shall visit I will bring upon them their sin.
35 And YHWH plagues the people because they made the calf which Aaron made.
And the Lord struck the people for the making the calf, which Aaron made.
