1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, Rise up, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. 2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3 Then all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them unto Aaron, 4 who took them from their hands and fashioned it with a graving tool and made of it a molten calf. Then they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5 And seeing this, Aaron built an altar before the calf; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast unto the LORD. 6 And they rose up early on the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.
7 Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go, descend; for thy people, which thou didst bring out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molten calf and have worshipped it and have sacrificed unto it and said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 9 The LORD further said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and for certain it is a stiffnecked people. 10 Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot in them and consume them; and I will put thee over a great nation.
11 Then Moses grieved before the LORD his God and said, LORD, why shall thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians speak and say, For evil did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from upon the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of the evil of thy people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy slaves, to whom thou didst sware by thine own self and hast said 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 take it for inheritance for ever. 14 Then the LORD repented of the evil which he said should be done unto his people.
15 And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand; the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 17 And Joshua, hearing the noise of the people as they shouted, said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 18 And he answered, It is not the voice of those that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of those that cry for being overcome, but the noise of those that sing that I hear. 19 And it came to pass as soon as he came near unto the camp and he saw the calf and the dances, anger caused Moses to wax hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mount. 20 And he took the calf which they had made and burnt it in the fire and ground it to powder and scattered it upon the waters and made the sons of Israel drink it.
21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people do unto thee that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? 22 And Aaron answered, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot; thou knowest the people that they are inclined to evil. 23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us, for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what is become of him. 24 And I answered unto them, Whoever has any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it to me and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out.
25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies), 26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, Who is on the LORD’s side? Come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. 27 And he said unto them, Thus hath the LORD God of Israel said, Put every man his sword by his side and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and slay each one his brother and his companion and his neighbour. 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. 29 Then Moses had said, Today you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD, for each one has consecrated in his son and in his brother, that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
30 And it came to pass on the next day that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin, but now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make reconciliation for your sin. 31 Then Moses returned unto the LORD and said, I pray thee, for, this people who have sinned a great sin and have made themselves gods of gold, 32 that thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me now out of thy book which thou hast written. 33 And the LORD answered unto Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, this one will I blot out of my book. 34 Therefore go now, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee; behold, my Angel shall go before thee; nevertheless in the day of my visitation I will visit their sin in them.
35 And the LORD smote the people because they had made the calf, which Aaron formed.