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 mount, the people assembled themselves together around Aaron, and they said unto him, Up, make us gods, that shall go before us; for of this man Moses, who hath brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not 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 said unto them, Take out the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto 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 out the golden earrings, which were in their ears, and brought them unto 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 took them from their hand, and fashioned it in a mould, and he made of it a molten calf; and they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee 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 when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron called out, and said, A feast unto the Lord is tomorrow.
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 they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought near peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to 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 unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, hath become corrupt:
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 turned aside quickly from the way which I have commanded them; they have made themselves a molten calf: and they have bowed themselves to it, and have sacrificed unto it, and have said, These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
9 And YHWH says to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it [is] a stiff-necked people;
And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people.
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 my wrath shall wax hot against them, and I will make an end of them; and I will make of thee 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?
Thereupon Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Why, O Lord, shall thy wrath wax hot against thy people, that thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt, with great power and with a mighty hand?
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.
Wherefore should the Egyptians say thus, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to destroy them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent thee of the evil decreed against thy 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”;
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou didst swear by thy own self, and speak unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14 and YHWH relents from the evil which He has spoken of doing to His people.
And the Lord bethought himself of the evil which he had spoken to do unto 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 about, and went down from the mount with the two tables of the testimony in his hand: tables inscribed on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they inscribed.
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 was the writing of God, engraved upon 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 heard the noise of the people in its shouting, and he said unto 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 he said, It is not the voice of a shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of a cry for defeat; the noise of singing 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 it came to pass, when he came nigh unto the camp, and he saw the calf, and the dancing: that the anger of Moses waxed hot, and he cast from his hands the tables, and broke them at the foot of the mount.
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 he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in fire, and ground it to a powder, and he strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of 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 unto Aaron, What hath this people done unto thee, that thou hast brought upon it so great a 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, Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that it is bent on mischief.
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;
And they said unto me, Make us gods that shall go before us; for of this man Moses, who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what hath 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 unto them, Who hath any gold? They took it off themselves and gave it to me, and I cast it 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 Moses saw the people that it had become unruly; for Aaron had made it unruly for a disgrace among their opponents.
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;
Moses then placed himself in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come unto me! and there assembled themselves unto him all the sons of Levi.
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 said unto them, Thus hath said the Eternal, the God of Israel, Put ye every man his sword by his side, and go ye hither and thither, from gate to gate in the camp, and slay ye every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his relative.
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 children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people on that day about 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, Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, yea even every man on his son, and on his brother; and to bestow upon you this day a blessing.
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 on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I may obtain an 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 unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people hath sinned a great sin, and they have made themselves gods of gold.
32 and now, if You take away their sin—and if not—please blot me out of Your scroll which You have written.”
Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; but if not, blot me out, I pray thee, from thy book which thou hast written.
33 And YHWH says to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me—I blot him out of My scroll;
And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out from 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, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee; behold, my angel shall go before thee; but on the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
35 And YHWH plagues the people because they made the calf which Aaron made.
And the Lord sent a plague among the people, because that they had made the calf which Aaron made.
