Exodus 32 | King James Version

King James Version

1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee 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, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. 6 And they rose up early on the morrow, 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 unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest 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 them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. 11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. 14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. 15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear. 19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses'anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. 20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it . 21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? 22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. 23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. 25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:) 26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD' side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. 27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by 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 neighbour. 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 day to the LORD, 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 morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. 31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. 33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. 35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

New International Reader’s Version

Israel worships a golden calf

1 The people saw that Moses took a long time to come down from the mountain. So they gathered around Aaron. They said to him, ‘Come. Make us a god that will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 2 Aaron answered them, ‘Take the gold earrings off your wives, your sons and your daughters. Bring the earrings to me.’ 3 So all the people took off their earrings. They brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they gave him and made it into a metal statue of a god. It looked like a calf. Aaron shaped it with a tool. Then the people said, ‘Israel, here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.’ 5 When Aaron saw what they were doing, he built an altar in front of the calf. He said, ‘Tomorrow will be a feast day to honour the LORD.’ 6 So the next day the people got up early. They sacrificed burnt offerings and brought friendship offerings. They sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to dance wildly in front of their god. 7 The LORD spoke to Moses. He said, ‘Go down. Your people you brought up out of Egypt have become very sinful. 8 They have quickly turned away from what I commanded them. They have made themselves a metal statue of a god in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down and sacrificed to it. And they have said, “Israel, here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.” 9 ‘I have seen these people,’ the LORD said to Moses. ‘They are stubborn. 10 Now leave me alone. I will destroy them because of my great anger. Then I will make you into a great nation.’ 11 But Moses asked the LORD his God to have mercy on the people. ‘LORD,’ he said, ‘why should you destroy your people in anger? You used your great power and mighty hand to bring them out of Egypt. 12 Why should the Egyptians say, “He brought them out to hurt them. He wanted to kill them in the mountains. He wanted to wipe them off the face of the earth”? Turn away from your great anger. Please take pity on your people. Don’t destroy them! 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel. You made a promise to them in your own name. You said, “I will make your children after you as many as the stars in the sky. I will give them all this land I promised them. It will belong to them for ever.” ’ 14 Then the LORD took pity on his people. He didn’t destroy them as he had said he would. 15 Moses turned and went down the mountain. He had the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. Words were written on both sides of the tablets, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God. The words had been written by God. They had been carved on the tablets. 17 Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting. So he said to Moses, ‘It sounds like war in the camp.’ 18 Moses replied, ‘It’s not the sound of winning. It’s not the sound of losing. It’s the sound of singing that I hear.’ 19 As Moses approached the camp, he saw the calf. He also saw the people dancing. So he was very angry. He threw the tablets out of his hands. They broke into pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf the people had made. He burned it in the fire. Then he ground it into powder. He scattered it on the water. And he made the Israelites drink it. 21 He said to Aaron, ‘What did these people do to you? How did they make you lead them into such terrible sin?’ 22 ‘Please don’t be angry,’ Aaron answered. ‘You know how these people like to do what is evil. 23 They said to me, “Make us a god that will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him.” 24 So I told them, “Anyone who has any gold jewellery, take it off.” They gave me the gold. I threw it into the fire. And out came this calf!’ 25 Moses saw that the people were running wild. Aaron had let them get out of control. The people had become a joke to their enemies. 26 Moses stood at the entrance to the camp. He said, ‘Anyone on the LORD’s side, come to me.’ All the Levites joined him. 27 Then he spoke to them. He said, ‘The LORD, the God of Israel, says, “Each man must put on his sword. Then he must go to and fro through the camp from one end to the other. Each man must kill his brother and friend and neighbour.” ’ 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded. About 3,000 of the people died that day. 29 Then Moses said to the Levites, ‘You have been set apart for the LORD today. You fought against your own sons and brothers. And he has blessed you this day.’ 30 The next day Moses said to the people, ‘You have committed a terrible sin. But now I will go up to the LORD. Maybe if I pray to him, he will forgive your sin.’ 31 So Moses went back to the LORD. He said, ‘These people have committed a terrible sin. They have made a god out of gold for themselves. 32 Now please forgive their sin. But if you won’t, then erase my name from the book you have written.’ 33 The LORD replied to Moses. The LORD said, ‘I will erase from my book only the names of those who have sinned against me. 34 Now go. Lead the people to the place I spoke about. My angel will go ahead of you. But when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.’ 35 The LORD struck the people with a plague. That’s because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.