Exodus 32:23

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible

So they said to me - Make for us gods, who shall go before us, - for, as for this, Moses - the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what hath befallen him.

Parallel Translations

Geneva Bible (1587)
And they sayde vnto me, Make vs gods to go before vs: for we knowe not what is become of this Moses (the man that brought vs out of the land of Egypt.)

George Lamsa Translation
For they said to me, Make us gods that they shall go before us; as for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

Hebrew Names Version
For they said to me, 'Make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moshe, the man who brought us up out of the land of Mitzrayim, we don't know what has become of him.'

Easy-to-Read Version
The people said to me, ‘Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don't know what has happened to him. So make us some gods to lead us.'

English Standard Version
For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go 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.'

American Standard Version
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 know not what is become of him.

Bible in Basic English
For they said to me, Make us a god to go before us: as for this Moses, who took us up out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has come to him.

Contemporary English Version
They even told me, "That man Moses led us out of Egypt, but now we don't know what has happened to him. Make us a god to lead us."

Complete Jewish Bible
So they said to me, ‘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.'

JPS Old Testament (1917)
So they said unto me: Make us a god, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.

King James Version (1611)
For they said vnto me, Make vs gods which shall goe before vs: for as for this Moses, the man that brought vs vp out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

Amplified Bible
"For they said to me, 'Make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For they say to me, Make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what is become of him.

English Revised Version
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 know not what is become of him.

Berean Standard Bible
They told me, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!'

Lexham English Bible
And they said to me, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

Literal Translation
And they said to me, Make for us gods who may go before us; as for Moses, the man who caused us to go up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

New Century Version
The people said to me, ‘Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don't know what has happened to him. Make us gods who will lead us.'

New English Translation
They said to me, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'

New King James Version
For they said to me, "Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

New Living Translation
They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. We don't know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.'

New Life Bible
They said to me, ‘Make a god for us who will go in front of us. For we do not know what has become of Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt.'

Douay-Rheims Bible
They said to me: make us gods, that may go before us; for as to this Moses, who brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is befallen him.

Revised Standard Version
For they said to me, 'Make us gods, who shall go 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.'

Good News Translation
They said to me, ‘We don't know what has happened to this man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt; so make us a god to lead us.'

King James Version
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.

Darby Translation
And they said to me, Make us a god, who will go before us; for this Moses, the man that has brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what is become of him!

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
thei seiden to me, Make thou goddis to vs, that schulen go bifore vs, for we witen not, what bifelde to this Moises, that ladde vs out of the lond of Egipt.

Young's Literal Translation
and they say to me, Make for us gods, who go before us, for this Moses -- the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt -- we have not known what hath happened to him;

World English Bible
For they said to me, 'Make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him.'

Update Bible Version
For they said to 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 don't know what has become of him.

Webster's Bible Translation
For they said to me, Make us gods which shall go before us: for [as for] this Moses, the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For they sayde vnto me: Make vs goddes to go before vs, for we wote not what is become of Moyses, the man that brought vs out of ye land of Egypt.

Christian Standard Bible®
They said to me, ‘Make gods for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
They sayde vnto me: Make vs goddes to go before vs, for we cannot tell what is become of this man Moses, yt brought vs out of the londe of Egipte.

New American Standard Bible
"For they said to me, 'Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.'

New Revised Standard
They said to me, ‘Make us gods, who shall go 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.'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For they said to me, 'Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

Legacy Standard Bible
Indeed they said to me, ‘Make gods for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

Contextual Overview

²¹ And Moses said unto Aaron, What had this people done to thee, - that thou shouldst have brought upon them a great sin? ²² And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord kindle, - thou thyself, knowest the people, that ready for mischief, they are. ²³ So they said to me - Make for us gods, who shall go before us, - for, as for this, Moses - the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what hath befallen him. ²⁴ And I said to them - Whosoever hath gold let them break it off, So they gave it to me, - and I cast it into the fire, and there came out - this calf. ²⁵ And Moses saw the people, that unbridled, they were, - for Aaron had given them the rein, for a whispering, among their enemies. ²⁶ So Moses took his stand in the gate of the camp, and said - Who is for Yahweh? …To me! Then gathered unto him all the sons of Levi, ²⁷ And he said to them - Thus, saith Yahweh, God of Israel, Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, - pass through and return from gate to gate in the camp, and slay ye every man his brother and every man his friend and every man his neighbour. ²⁸ So the sons of Levi did, according to the word of Moses, - and there fell from among the people on that day, about three thousand men. ²⁹ And Moses said - Install yourselves to-day, unto Yahweh, yea every man for his son and for his brother, - so will he bestow upon you to-day, a blessing.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Exodus 32:1-4, Exodus 32:8

Reciprocal: Exodus 20:4 - General 1 Samuel 15:15 - for 1 Samuel 15:21 - the people

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For they said unto me, make us gods, which shall go before us,.... Which was true, Exodus 32:1 but then he should have told them, that gods were not to be made; that what were made with hands were no gods, and could not go before them; that the making of any image, similitude, or representation of God, was forbidden by him, as they had lately heard from his own mouth; he should have dissuaded from such idolatry, by showing them the evil nature of the sin, and the ruin they exposed themselves to by it:

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; their words he truly recites, and perhaps might choose the rather to mention them, because they carried in them some reflection on Moses for staying so long in the mount; and as if that contributed much to this affair, and which put the people on forming such a scheme, they concluding he must be dead through famine; or, as the Targum of Jonathan, be burnt with flaming fire from the Lord.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The faithfulness of Moses in the office that had been entrusted to him was now to be put to the test. It was to be made manifest whether he loved his own glory better than he loved the brethren who were under his charge; whether he would prefer that he should himself become the founder of a “great nation,” or that the Lord’s promise should be fulfilled in the whole people of Israel. This may have been especially needful for Moses, in consequence of his natural disposition. See Numbers 12:3; and compare Exodus 3:11. With this trial of Moses repeated in a very similar manner Numbers 14:11-23, may be compared the trial of Abraham Genesis 22:0 and of our Saviour Matthew 4:8-10.

Exodus 32:8

These be thy gods ... have brought - This is thy god, O Israel, who has brought ...

Exodus 32:10

Let me alone - But Moses did not let the Lord alone; he wrestled, as Jacob had done, until, like Jacob, he obtained the blessing Genesis 32:24-29.

Exodus 32:14

This states a fact which was not revealed to Moses until after his second intercession when he had come down from the mountain and witnessed the sin of the people Exodus 32:30-34. He was then assured that the Lord’s love to His ancient people would prevail God is said, in the language of Scripture, to “repent,” when His forgiving love is seen by man to blot out the letter of His judgments against sin (2 Samuel 24:16; Joel 2:13; Jonah 3:10, etc.); or when the sin of man seems to human sight to have disappointed the purposes of grace (Gen 6:6; 1 Samuel 15:35, etc.). The awakened conscience is said to “repent,” when, having felt its sin, it feels also the divine forgiveness: it is at this crisis that God, according to the language of Scripture, repents toward the sinner. Thus, the repentance of God made known in and through the One true Mediator reciprocates the repentance of the returning sinner, and reveals to him atonement.

Exodus 32:17-18

Moses does not tell Joshua of the divine communication that had been made to him respecting the apostasy of the people, but only corrects his impression by calling his attention to the kind of noise which they are making.

Exodus 32:19

Though Moses had been prepared by the revelation on the Mount, his righteous indignation was stirred up beyond control when the abomination was before his eyes.

Exodus 32:20

See Deuteronomy 9:21. What is related in this verse must have occupied some time and may have followed the rebuke of Aaron. The act was symbolic, of course. The idol was brought to nothing and the people were made to swallow their own sin (compare Micah 7:13-14).

Exodus 32:22

Aaron’s reference to the character of the people, and his manner of stating what he had done Exo. 5:24, are very characteristic of the deprecating language of a weak mind.

Exodus 32:23

Make us gods - Make us a god.

Exodus 32:25

Naked - Rather unruly, or “licentious”.

Shame among their enemies - Compare Psalms 44:13; Psalms 79:4; Deuteronomy 28:37.

Exodus 32:26-29

The tribe of Levi, Moses’ own tribe, now distinguished itself by immediately returning to its allegiance and obeying the call to fight on the side of Yahweh. We need not doubt that the 3,000 who were slain were those who persisted in resisting Moses. The spirit of the narrative forbids us to conceive that the act of the Levites was anything like an indiscriminate massacre. An amnesty had first been offered to all by the words: “Who is on the Lord’s side?” Those who were forward to draw the sword were directed not to spare their closest relations or friends; but this must plainly have been with an understood qualification as regards the conduct of those who were to be slain. Had it not been so, they who were on the Lord’s side would have had to destroy each other. We need not stumble at the bold, simple way in which the statement is made.

Exodus 32:29

Consecrate yourselves to day to the Lord ... - The margin contains the literal rendering. Our version gives the most probable meaning of the Hebrew, and is supported by the best authority. The Levites were to prove themselves in a special way the servants of Yahweh, in anticipation of their formal consecration as ministers of the sanctuary (compare Deuteronomy 10:8), by manifesting a self-sacrificing zeal in carrying out the divine command, even upon their nearest relatives.

Exodus 32:31

Returned unto the Lord - i. e. again he ascended the mountain.

Gods of gold - a god of gold.

Exodus 32:32

For a similar form of expression, in which the conclusion is left to be supplied by the mind of the reader, see Daniel 3:15; Luke 13:9; Luke 19:42; John 6:62; Romans 9:22. For the same thought, see Romans 9:3. It is for such as Moses and Paul to realize, and to dare to utter, their readiness to be wholly sacrificed for the sake of those whom God has entrusted to their love. This expresses the perfected idea of the whole burnt-offering.

Thy book - The figure is taken from the enrolment of the names of citizens. This is its first occurrence in the Scriptures. See the marginal references. and Isaiah 4:3; Daniel 12:1; Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5, etc.

Exodus 32:33, Exodus 32:34

Each offender was to suffer for his own sin. Compare Exodus 20:5; Ezekiel 18:4, Ezekiel 18:20. Moses was not to be taken at his word. He was to fulfill his appointed mission of leading on the people toward the land of promise.

Exodus 32:34

Mine Angel shall go before thee - See the marginal references and Genesis 12:7.

In the day when I visit ... - Compare Numbers 14:22-24. But though the Lord chastized the individuals, He did not take His blessing from the nation.