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Exodus 32:1-35 — The Golden Calf

Exod.32.1-35

¹When the people realized that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Rise up, make for us gods who will go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.” ²Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³So all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴He took the gold from their hands, 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 from the land of Egypt!” ⁵When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” ⁶They rose early the next day, offered burnt offerings, and presented peace offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel. ⁷The LORD spoke to Moses, "Go, get down, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸They have quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, bowed down to it, sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.'" ⁹The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰Now therefore, leave Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may consume them; and I will make you into a great nation." ¹¹But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹²Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, 'With evil intent He brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people. ¹³Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring like the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'" ¹⁴So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. ¹⁵Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. ¹⁶The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. ¹⁷When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” ¹⁸But he said, “It is not the sound of a cry of strength, and it is not the sound of a cry of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear.” ¹⁹As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the surface of the water, and made the sons of Israel drink it. ²¹Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” ²²Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. ²³For they said to me, 'Make for us gods who will go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.' ²⁴So I said to them, 'Whoever has gold, let them take it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." ²⁵When Moses saw that the people were running wild—for Aaron had let them run wild, to their derision among their enemies— ²⁶Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. ²⁷He said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Let every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.'” ²⁸The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. ²⁹Moses said, “Dedicate yourselves today to the LORD, for every man has been against his son and against his brother, in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.” ³⁰The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” ³¹So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made for themselves gods of gold. ³²Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of Your book that You have written." ³³The LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. ³⁴But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you. Behold, My angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin." ³⁵Then the LORD struck the people with a plague, because they had made the calf—the one that Aaron made.

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4/11/2026

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