1 ¶ And when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; but 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 And Aaron said to them, Take off the golden earrings, that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.

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

4 And he took the gold from their hands, and after making it into a molten calf, shaped it with a graving tool: and they said, This is your god, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to 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 ¶ And the LORD said to Moses, Go, get you down; for your people, which you brought 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, This is your god, O Israel, which has brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

9 And the LORD said to Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of you a great nation.

11 And Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, which you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?

12 Why should the Egyptians say, He brought them out with evil intent, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath, and change your mind about this evil against your people.

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your descendants all this land that I have spoken of, and they will inherit it for ever.

14 So the LORD changed his mind about the evil which he thought to do to his people.

15 ¶ And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tablets had writing on both sides; they had writing on both the front side and on the back.

16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tables.

17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.

18 And he said, It is not the voice of those who shout for victory, nor is it the voice of those who cry because of defeat: but the noise of those who sing that I hear.

19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.

20 And he took the calf that they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and sprinkled it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it.

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

22 And Aaron said, Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot: you know the people, that they are set on doing evil.

23 For they said to me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: but as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.

24 And I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let them take it off. So they gave it to me: then I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.

25 And when Moses saw that the people were out of control; (for Aaron had allowed them to get out of control to their shame among their enemies:)

26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.

27 And he said to them, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.

28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

29 For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to the LORD today, even every man upon his son, and upon 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 to the people, You have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can get him to forgive your sin.

31 And Moses returned to the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves a god of gold.

32 Yet now, forgive their sin if you will — and if not, blot me, I pray you, out of your book that you have written.

33 And the LORD said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

34 Therefore now go, lead the people to the place of which I have told you: behold, my Angel will go before you: nevertheless on the day when I punish I will punish them for their sin.

35 And the LORD sent a plague upon the people, because of what they did with the calf, that Aaron made.