Exodus 32:1-14
The Golden Calf
When the people saw that Moses adelayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, b“Up, make us gods who shall cgo before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the arings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 aAnd he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, b“These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron amade a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And athe people sat down to eat and drink and rose up bto play.
7 And the Lord said to Moses, a“Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have bcorrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that aI commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, ait is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore alet me alone, that bmy wrath may burn hot against them and cI may consume them, in order that dI may make a great nation of you.”
11 But aMoses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 aWhy should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and brelent from this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you aswore by your own self, and said to them, b‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 And the Lord arelented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
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