Exodus 32

1 And the people saw that Moses was delayed to come down from the mountain, and the people assembled against Aaron, and said 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 do not know what has happened to him.” 2 And Aaron said 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.” 3 And all the people broke off the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron, 4 and he received it from their hand, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into a molten calf, and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 And Aaron saw, and built an altar before it, and Aaron called, and says, “A festival to YHWH—tomorrow.” 6 And they rose early on the next day, and caused burnt-offerings to ascend, and brought peace-offerings near. And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. 7 And YHWH said to Moses, “Go, descend, for your people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt have done corruptly, 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!” 9 And YHWH said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and look, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 And now, leave Me alone, and My anger burns against them, and I will consume them, and I will make you become a great nation.” 11 And Moses appeased the face of his God YHWH and said, “Why, O YHWH, does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand? 12 Why do the Egyptians speak, saying, He brought them out in calamity to kill 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. 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 will inherit it to a distant age.” 14 And YHWH relented from the evil which He spoke of doing to His people. 15 And Moses turned, and goes down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hands, tablets written on both their sides. They were written on this side and on that side. 16 And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. 17 And Joshua heard the voice of the people in their shouting and said to Moses, “A noise of battle in the camp!” 18 And he said, “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.” 19 And it came to pass, when he had drawn near to the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing, and the anger of Moses burned, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them below the mountain. 20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, and ground it until it was small, and scattered it on the face of the waters, and caused the sons of Israel to drink. 21 And Moses said to Aaron, “What has this people done to you, that you have brought in a great sin on it?” 22 And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn. You know the people, that it are beset with evil. 23 And they said 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 do not known what has happened to him. 24 And I said to them, Whoever has gold, let them break it off, and give it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.” 25 And Moses saw the people, that it were unbridled, for Aaron had made it unbridled for contempt among its withstanders, 26 and Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is for YHWH? Come to me!” And all the sons of Levi were gathered to him. 27 And he said 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 kill his brother, and each his friend, and each his relation.” 28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people on that day about 3000 men, 29 and Moses said, “Consecrate your hands to YHWH today, for a man was against his son, and against his brother, so as to bring a blessing on you today.” 30 And it came to pass, on the next day, that Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin, and now I will go up to YHWH, perhaps I can atone for your sin.” 31 And Moses turned back to YHWH and said, “Ah, now this people have sinned a great sin, that they made a god of gold for themselves. 32 And now, if You take away their sin—and if not—please blot me out of Your scroll which You have written.” 33 And YHWH said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me—I will blot him out of My scroll. 34 And now, go, lead the people wherever I have spoken to you of. Look, My Messenger goes before you, and in the day of my charging—then I have charged their sin on them.” 35 And YHWH plagued the people because they made the calf which Aaron made.


Next: Chapter 33

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40