Exodus 32

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people banded together against Aaron and say to him: Arise and make us gods who shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

And Aaron says to them: Take off the golden earrings that are in the ears of your wives and of your daughters, and bring them to me.

And all the people took off the golden earrings that were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.

And he received them from their hands and formed them with the graving tool, and made them into a molten calf; and he said: These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar opposite it; and Aaron proclaimed, saying: Tomorrow is a feast of the Lord.

And rising early on the next day he offered up whole burnt offerings and brought a sacrifice of deliverance; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Go quickly from here, go down; for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have acted lawlessly.

They have quickly turned aside from the way which you commanded them; they have made for themselves a calf, and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it, and said: These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

And now let me alone, and being enraged with wrath against them I will wipe them out, and I will make you into a great nation.

And Moses made supplication before the Lord God and said: Why, Lord, are you enraged with wrath against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great strength and with your uplifted arm?

Lest the Egyptians speak, saying: With evil intent he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them utterly from the earth. Cease from the anger of your wrath, and be merciful concerning the evil of your people.

Remember Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and spoke to them, saying: I will greatly multiply your seed like the stars of heaven in multitude; and all this land which you said you would give to their seed, and they shall possess it forever.

And the Lord was propitiated concerning the evil which he said he would do to his people.

And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the testimony were in his hands, stone tablets inscribed on both of their sides; on this side and on that they were written.

And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing is the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

And when Joshua heard the voice of the people as they shouted, he says to Moses: There is a sound of war in the camp.

And he says: It is not the sound of men leading off in strength, nor the sound of men leading off in rout; but it is the sound of men leading off over wine that I hear.

And when he drew near to the camp, he sees the calf and the dances; and Moses, enraged with wrath, threw the two tablets from his hands and shattered them beneath the mountain.

And he took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it fine, and scattered it upon the water, and made the sons of Israel drink it.

And Moses said to Aaron: What did this people do to you, that you brought upon them a great sin?

And Aaron said to Moses: Do not be angry, lord; for you yourself know the impulse of this people.

For they say to me: Make us gods who shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

And I said to them: If anyone has gold, take it off. And they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.

And Moses saw the people, that they had been scattered, for Aaron had scattered them, a laughingstock to their adversaries.

And Moses stood at the gate of the camp and said: Whoever is for the Lord, let him come to me. So all the sons of Levi came together to him.

And he says to them: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Let each of you put his own sword upon his thigh, and go through and return from gate to gate through the camp, and let each kill his brother, and each his neighbour, and each his nearest kin.

And the sons of Levi did as Moses spoke to them, and there fell of the people on that day about three thousand men.

And Moses said to them: You have today filled your hands to the Lord, each one against his son or his brother, so that a blessing may be given upon you.

And it came to pass after the next day 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.

And Moses returned to the Lord and said: I beseech you, Lord; this people has sinned a great sin, and they made for themselves gods of gold.

And now, if indeed you will forgive them the sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out of your book which you wrote.

And the Lord said to Moses: Whoever has sinned before me, him will I blot out of my book.

But now go, go down, and lead this people to the place of which I spoke to you. Behold, my angel goes before your face; but in the day when I visit, I will bring their sin upon them.

And the Lord struck the people concerning the making of the calf which Aaron made.