Exodus 32:1-13 ▼

1 Now when the people saw that Moses (drawn out) was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron (light bringer) and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt (land of bondage), we do not know what has happened to him !”

2 So Aaron (light bringer) told them, “Take off the gold earrings that are on your⁺ wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.”

3 Then all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron (light bringer).

4 He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel (he wrestles with God), are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt (land of bondage)!”

5 When Aaron (light bringer) saw this, he built an altar before the calf and proclaimed: “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD {YHWH}.”

6 So the next day they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry (to play).

7 Then the LORD {YHWH} said to Moses (drawn out), “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt (land of bondage), have corrupted themselves.

8 How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel (he wrestles with God), are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt (land of bondage).’”

9 The LORD {YHWH} also said to Moses (drawn out), “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.

10 Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

11 But Moses (drawn out) sought the favor of the LORD his God {YHWH Elohaw}, saying, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt (land of bondage) with great power and a mighty hand?

12 Why should the Egyptians declare, (double straits) ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people.

13 Remember Your servants Abraham (father of many), Isaac (he laughs), and Israel (he wrestles with God), to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your⁺ descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your⁺ descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’”