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 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 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.
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 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 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 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.
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 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 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.
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.