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Wednesday, August 20th, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Read the Bible

Complete Jewish Bible

Exodus 32:3

The people stripped off their gold earrings and brought them to Aharon.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ear-Ring;   Falsehood;   Feasts;   Idol;   Quotations and Allusions;   Thompson Chain Reference - Aaron;   The Topic Concordance - Idolatry;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Calf of Gold;   Gold;   Idolatry;   Offence;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Aaron;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Israel;   Priest, Priesthood;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Exodus, Book of;   Golden Calf;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Aaron;   Anger (Wrath) of God;   Calf, Golden;   Exodus;   Moses;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Lamb;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Calf, Golden;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Calf;   Plagues of egypt;   Table;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Aaron;   Calf;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Moses;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Events of the Encampment;   Priesthood, the;   On to Canaan;   Moses, the Man of God;   Law of Moses, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Gold;   Moses;   Sacrifice;   Wanderings of Israel;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Aaron;   Angelology;   Sacrifice;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aharon.
King James Version
And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Lexham English Bible
And all the people took off the rings of gold that were on their ears and brought it to Aaron.
New Century Version
So all the people took their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.
New English Translation
So all the people broke off the gold earrings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Amplified Bible
So all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
New American Standard Bible
So all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then all ye people pluckt fro them selues the golden earings, which were in their eares, and they brought them vnto Aaron.
Legacy Standard Bible
Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Contemporary English Version
Everybody took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron,
Darby Translation
Then all the people broke off the golden rings that were in their ears, and brought [them] to Aaron.
Easy-to-Read Version
So the people collected all their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.
English Standard Version
So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
George Lamsa Translation
So all the people removed the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
Good News Translation
So all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.
Christian Standard Bible®
So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Literal Translation
And all the people broke off the rings of gold in their ears, and they brought to Aaron.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then all the people pluckte of their golden earynges from their eares, & brought them vnto Aaron.
American Standard Version
And all the people brake off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Bible in Basic English
And all the people took the gold rings from their ears and gave them to Aaron.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And all the people plucked of the golden earinges which they had in their eares, and brought them vnto Aaron.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
King James Version (1611)
And all the people brake off the golden earerings, which were in their eares, and brought them vnto Aaron.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And all the people took off the golden ear-rings that were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
English Revised Version
And all the people brake off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Berean Standard Bible
Then all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The puple dide tho thingis, that he comaundide, and brouyte eere ryngis to Aaron;
Young's Literal Translation
and all the people themselves break off the rings of gold which [are] in their ears, and bring in unto Aaron,
Update Bible Version
And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
Webster's Bible Translation
And all the people broke off the golden ear-rings which [were] in their ears, and brought [them] to Aaron.
World English Bible
All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
New King James Version
So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
New Living Translation
All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron.
New Life Bible
So all the people took the gold objects from their ears and brought them to Aaron.
New Revised Standard
So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And all the people of themselves brake off the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the people did what he had commanded, bringing the earrings to Aaron.
Revised Standard Version
So all the people took off the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

Contextual Overview

1 When the people saw that Moshe was taking a long time to come down from the mountain, they gathered around Aharon and said to him, "Get busy; and make us gods to go ahead of us; because this Moshe, the man that brought us up from the land of Egypt — we don't know what has become of him." 2 Aharon said to them, "Have your wives, sons and daughters strip off their gold earrings; and bring them to me." 3 The people stripped off their gold earrings and brought them to Aharon. 4 He received what they gave him, melted it down, and made it into the shape of a calf. They said, "Isra'el! Here is your god, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!" 5 On seeing this, Aharon built an altar in front of it and proclaimed, "Tomorrow is to be a feast for Adonai ." 6 Early the next morning they got up and offered burnt offerings and presented peace offerings. Afterwards, the people sat down to eat and drink; then they got up to indulge in revelry.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Judges 17:3, Judges 17:4, Isaiah 40:19, Isaiah 40:20, Isaiah 46:6, Jeremiah 10:9

Reciprocal: Genesis 24:22 - took Exodus 33:6 - General Exodus 35:22 - bracelets Exodus 36:5 - General Judges 8:24 - give me

Cross-References

Genesis 14:6
and the Hori at Se‘ir, their mountain, all the way to Eil-Pa'ran by the desert.
Genesis 25:30
and said to Ya‘akov, "Please! Let me gulp down some of that red stuff — that red stuff! I'm exhausted!" (This is why he was called Edom [red].)
Genesis 32:6
I have cattle, donkeys and flocks, and male and female servants. I am sending to tell this news to my lord, in order to win your favor." '"
Genesis 32:9
saying, "If ‘Esav comes to the one camp and attacks it, at least the camp that is left will escape."
Genesis 32:31
(iii) Ya‘akov called the place P'ni-El [face of God], "Because I have seen God face to face, yet my life is spared."
Genesis 32:32
As the sun rose upon him he went on past P'ni-El, limping at the hip. This is why, to this day, the people of Isra'el do not eat the thigh muscle that passes along the hip socket — because the man struck Ya‘akov's hip at its socket.
Genesis 33:14
Instead, please, let my lord go on ahead of his servant. I will travel more slowly, at the pace of the cattle ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Se‘ir."
Genesis 33:16
So ‘Esav left that day to return to Se‘ir.
Deuteronomy 2:5
and don't get into disputes with them; for I am not going to give you any of their land, no, not even enough for one foot to stand on; inasmuch as I have given Mount Se‘ir to ‘Esav as his possession.
Deuteronomy 2:22
just as he destroyed the Horim as descendants of ‘Esav advanced into Se‘ir and settled in their place, where they live to this day.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And all the people brake off the golden earrings, which were in their ears,.... The men took off their earrings, and persuaded their wives and children, or obliged them to part with theirs; though the Targum of Jonathan says the women refused to give their ornaments to their husbands, therefore all the people immediately broke off all the golden ornaments which were in their ears x, so intent were they upon idolatry. This is to be understood not of every individual, but of the greatest part of the people; so apostle explains it of some of them, 1 Corinthians 10:7. Idolaters spare no cost nor pains to support their worship, and will strip themselves, their wives, and children, of their ornaments, to deck their idols; which may shame the worshippers of the true God, who are oftentimes too backward to contribute towards the maintenance of his worship and service:

and brought [them] unto Aaron: presently, the selfsame day; they soon forgot the commands enjoined them to have no other gods, save one, and to make no graven image to bow down to it, and their own words,

Exodus 24:7.

x So Pirke Eliezer, c. 45.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In all probability these three chapters originally formed a distinct composition. The main incidents recorded in them follow in the order of time, and are therefore in their proper place as regards historical sequence.

The golden calf - The people had, to a great extent, lost the patriarchal faith, and were but imperfectly instructed in the reality of a personal unseen God. Being disappointed at the long absence of Moses, they seem to have imagined that he had deluded them, and had probably been destroyed amidst the thunders of the mountain Exodus 24:15-18. Accordingly, they gave way to their superstitious fears and fell back upon that form of idolatry which was most familiar to them (see Exodus 32:4 note). The narrative of the circumstances is more briefly given by Moses at a later period in one of his addresses to the people Deuteronomy 9:8-21, Deuteronomy 9:25-29; Deuteronomy 10:1-5, Deuteronomy 10:8-11. It is worthy of remark, that Josephus, in his very characteristic chapter on the giving of the law, says nothing whatever of this act of apostacy, though he relates that Moses twice ascended the mountain.

Exodus 32:1

Unto Aaron - The chief authority during the absence of Moses was committed to Aaron and Hur Exodus 24:14.

Make us gods - The substantive אלהים 'elôhı̂ym is plural in form and may denote gods. But according to the Hebrew idiom, the meaning need not be plural, and hence, the word is used as the common designation of the true God (Genesis 1:1, etc. See Exodus 21:6 note). It here denotes a god, and should be so rendered.

Exodus 32:2

Break off the golden earrings - It has been very generally held from early times, that Aaron did not willingly lend himself to the mad design of the multitude; but that, overcome by their importunity, he asked them to give up such possessions as he knew they would not willingly part with, in the hope of putting a check on them. Assuming this to have been his purpose, he took a wrong measure of their fanaticism, for all the people made the sacrifice at once Exodus 32:3. His weakness, in any case, was unpardonable and called for the intercession of Moses Deuteronomy 9:20.

Exodus 32:4

The sense approved by most modern critics is: and he received the gold at their hand and collected it in a bag and made it a molten calf. The Israelites must have been familiar with the ox-worship of the Egyptians; perhaps many of them had witnessed the rites of Mnevis at Heliopolis, almost; on the borders of the land of Goshen, and they could not have been unacquainted with the more famous rites of Apis at Memphis. It is expressly said that they yielded to the idolatry of Egypt while they were in bondage Joshua 24:14; Ezekiel 20:8; Ezekiel 23:3, Ezekiel 23:8; and this is in keeping with the earliest Jewish tradition (Philo). In the next verse, Aaron appears to speak of the calf as if it was a representative of Yahweh - “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.” The Israelites did not, it should be noted, worship a living Mnevis, or Apis, having a proper name, but only the golden type of the animal. The mystical notions connected with the ox by the Egyptian priests may have possessed their minds, and, when expressed in this modified and less gross manner, may have been applied to the Lord, who had really delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. Their sin then lay, not in their adopting another god, but in their pretending to worship a visible symbol of Him whom no symbol could represent. The close connection between the calves of Jeroboam and this calf is shown by the repetition of the formula, “which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” 1 Kings 12:28.

These be thy gods - This is thy god. See Exodus 32:1 note.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 32:3. And all the people brake off the golden ear-rings — The human being is naturally fond of dress, though this has been improperly attributed to the female sex alone, and those are most fond of it who have the shallowest capacities; but on this occasion the bent of the people to idolatry was greater than even their love of dress, so that they readily stripped themselves of their ornaments in order to get a molten god. They made some compensation for this afterwards; see Exodus 35:22, and Exodus 38:9; Exodus 38:9.


 
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