Read the Bible

¹ And the people see that Moses is delaying to come down from the mountain, and the people assemble against Aaron, and say to him, "Rise, make gods for us, who go before us, for this Moses—the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt—we have not known what has happened to him."² And Aaron says to them, "Break off the rings of gold which [are] in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring [them] to me";³ and all the people break off the rings of gold which [are] in their ears, and bring [them] to Aaron,⁴ and he receives [it] from their hand, and fashions it with an engraving tool, and makes it [into] a molten calf, and they say, "These [are] your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"⁵ And Aaron sees, and builds an altar before it, and Aaron calls, and says, "A festival to YHWH—tomorrow";⁶ and they rise early on the next day, and cause burnt-offerings to ascend, and bring peace-offerings near; and the people sit down to eat and to drink, and rise up to play.

⁷ And YHWH says to Moses, "Go, descend, for your people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt have done corruptly,⁸ they have quickly turned aside from the way that I have commanded them; they have made a molten calf for themselves, and bow themselves to it, and sacrifice to it, and say, These [are] your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"⁹ And YHWH says to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it [is] a stiff-necked people;¹⁰ and now, leave Me alone, and My anger burns against them, and I consume them, and I make you become a great nation."¹¹ And Moses appeases the face of his God YHWH and says, "Why, O YHWH, does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand?¹² Why do the Egyptians speak, saying, He brought them out in calamity to slay them among mountains, and to consume them from off the face of the ground? Turn back from the heat of Your anger, and relent from this calamity against Your people.¹³ Be mindful of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, Your servants, to whom You have sworn by Yourself, and to whom You speak: I multiply your seed as stars of the heavens, and all this land, as I have said, I give to your seed, and they have inherited [it] for all time";¹⁴ and YHWH relents from the evil which He has spoken of doing to His people.

¹⁵ And Moses turns, and goes down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony [are] in his hand, tablets written on both their sides; they [are] written on this [side] and on that [side];¹⁶ and the tablets are the work of God, and the writing is the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.¹⁷ And Joshua hears the voice of the people in their shouting and says to Moses, "A noise of battle in the camp!"¹⁸ And he says, "It is not the voice of the crying of might, nor is it the voice of the crying of weakness—I am hearing a voice of singing."¹⁹ And it comes to pass, when he has drawn near to the camp, that he sees the calf, and the dancing, and the anger of Moses burns, and he casts the tablets out of his hands, and breaks them below the mountain;²⁰ and he takes the calf which they have made, and burns [it] with fire, and grinds [it] until [it is] small, and scatters [it] on the face of the waters, and causes the sons of Israel to drink.

²¹ And Moses says to Aaron, "What has this people done to you, that you have brought in a great sin on it?"²² And Aaron says, "Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you have known the people, that it [is beset] with evil;²³ and they say to me, Make gods for us, who go before us, for this Moses—the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt—we have not known what has happened to him;²⁴ and I say to them, Whoever has gold, let them break [it] off, and they give [it] to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf comes out."²⁵ And Moses sees the people, that it [is] unbridled, for Aaron has made it unbridled for contempt among its withstanders,²⁶ and Moses stands in the gate of the camp and says, "Who [is] for YHWH? [Come] to me!" And all the sons of Levi are gathered to him;²⁷ and he says to them, "Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: Each put his sword by his thigh, pass over and turn back from gate to gate through the camp, and each slay his brother, and each his friend, and each his relation."²⁸ And the sons of Levi do according to the word of Moses, and there falls of the people on that day about three thousand men,²⁹ and Moses says, "Consecrate your hand to YHWH today, for a man [is] against his son, and against his brother, so as to bring a blessing on you today."

³⁰ And it comes to pass, on the next day, that Moses says to the people, "You have sinned a great sin, and now I go up to YHWH, perhaps I can atone for your sin."³¹ And Moses turns back to YHWH and says, "Ah, now this people has sinned a great sin, that they make a god of gold for themselves;³² and now, if You take away their sin—and if not—please blot me out of Your scroll which You have written."³³ And YHWH says to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me—I blot him out of My scroll;³⁴ and now, go, lead the people wherever I have spoken to you of; behold, My Messenger goes before you, and in the day of my charging—then I have charged their sin on them."³⁵ And YHWH plagues the people because they made the calf which Aaron made.