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¹ And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, Get 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 don't know what has become of him.² And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.³ And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.⁴ And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it [into] a molten calf: and they said, These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.⁵ And when Aaron saw [this], he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh.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 Yahweh spoke to Moses, Go, get down; for your people, that you brought up 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 worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.⁹ And Yahweh said to Moses, I have seen this people, and, look, it is a stiff-necked 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 you a great nation.¹¹ And Moses implored Yahweh his God, and said, Yahweh, why does your wrath wax hot against your people, that you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?¹² Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, For evil did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people.¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your slaves, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.¹⁴ And Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.

¹⁵ And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand; tables that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other they were written.¹⁶ And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on 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 that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of those that cry for being overcome; but the noise of those that sing, I am hearing.¹⁹ And it came to pass, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf and dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.²⁰ And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it on the water, and made the sons of Israel drink of it.

²¹ And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?²² And Aaron said, Don't let the anger of my lord wax hot: you know the people, that they are [set] on evil.²³ 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.²⁴ And I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let them break it off: so they gave it me; and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.²⁵ And when Moses saw that the people were broken loose, (for Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies,)²⁶ then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoever is on Yahweh's side, [let him come] to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.²⁷ And he said to them, This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, You put every man his sword on his thigh, and go to and fro 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 sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.²⁹ And Moses said, You have been consecrated today to Yahweh, yes, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may bestow on 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 Yahweh; perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin.³¹ And Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold.³² Yet now, if you will forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray you, out of your book which you have written.³³ And Yahweh said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, him I will blot out of my book.³⁴ And now go, lead the people to [the place] of which I have spoken to you: look, my angel shall go before you; nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin on them.³⁵ And Yahweh smote the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.