Psalm 106:19
New International Version
At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal.

New Living Translation
The people made a calf at Mount Sinai; they bowed before an image made of gold.

English Standard Version
They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a metal image.

Berean Standard Bible
At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.

King James Bible
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.

New King James Version
They made a calf in Horeb, And worshiped the molded image.

New American Standard Bible
They made a calf in Horeb, And worshiped a cast metal image.

NASB 1995
They made a calf in Horeb And worshiped a molten image.

NASB 1977
They made a calf in Horeb, And worshiped a molten image.

Legacy Standard Bible
They made a calf in Horeb And worshiped a molten image.

Amplified Bible
They made a calf in Horeb (Sinai) And worshiped a cast image.

Christian Standard Bible
At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped the cast metal image.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped the cast metal image.

American Standard Version
They made a calf in Horeb, And worshipped a molten image.

Contemporary English Version
At Horeb your people made and worshiped the statue

English Revised Version
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped a molten image.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
At Mount Horeb they made [a statue of] a calf. They worshiped an idol made of metal.

Good News Translation
They made a gold bull-calf at Sinai and worshiped that idol;

International Standard Version
They fashioned a calf at Horeb and worshipped a carved image.

Majority Standard Bible
At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.

NET Bible
They made an image of a calf at Horeb, and worshiped a metal idol.

New Heart English Bible
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image.

Webster's Bible Translation
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molten image.

World English Bible
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
They make a calf in Horeb, "" And bow themselves to a molten image,

Young's Literal Translation
They make a calf in Horeb, And bow themselves to a molten image,

Smith's Literal Translation
They will make a calf in Horeb, and they will worship to the molten image.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
They made also a calf in Horeb: and they adored the graven thing.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And they fashioned a calf at Horeb, and they adored a graven image.

New American Bible
At Horeb they fashioned a calf, worshiped a metal statue.

New Revised Standard Version
They made a calf at Horeb and worshiped a cast image.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
They made a calf in Khoreeb and worshiped the molten image.
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
They made a calf in Horeb, And worshipped a molten image.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And they made a calf in Choreb, and worshipped the graven image,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Give Thanks to the LORD, for He is Good
18Then fire blazed through their company; flames consumed the wicked. 19At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image. 20They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox.…

Cross References
Exodus 32:1-6
Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron 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, we do not know what has happened to him!” / So Aaron told them, “Take off the gold earrings that are on your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” / Then all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. ...

Deuteronomy 9:8-12
At Horeb you provoked the LORD, and He was angry enough to destroy you. / When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water. / Then the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by the finger of God with the exact words that the LORD spoke to you out of the fire on the mountain on the day of the assembly. ...

Acts 7:39-41
But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. / They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us! As for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’ / At that time they made a calf and offered a sacrifice to the idol, rejoicing in the works of their hands.

Nehemiah 9:18
Even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and when they committed terrible blasphemies,

1 Corinthians 10:7
Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”

Exodus 20:4-5
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. / You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Deuteronomy 4:15-18
So since you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be careful / that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female, / of any beast that is on the earth or bird that flies in the air, ...

Romans 1:22-23
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, / and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Isaiah 44:9-20
All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame. / Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing? / Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; they will all be brought to terror and shame. ...

Jeremiah 10:3-5
For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman. / They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter. / Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.”

Hosea 8:4-6
They set up kings, but not by Me. They make princes, but without My approval. With their silver and gold they make themselves idols, to their own destruction. / He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? / For this thing is from Israel—a craftsman made it, and it is not God. It will be broken to pieces, that calf of Samaria.

2 Kings 17:16
They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves two cast idols of calves and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal.

2 Chronicles 11:15
And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat demons and calf idols he had made.

Ezekiel 20:8
But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt.

Ezekiel 23:8
She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their lust upon her.


Treasury of Scripture

They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.

Exodus 32:4-8,35
And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt…

Deuteronomy 9:12-16,21
And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image…

Nehemiah 9:18
Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;

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Psalm 106
1. The psalmist exhorts to praise God
4. He prays for pardon of sin, as God pardoned the fathers
7. The story of the people's rebellion, and God's mercy
47. He concludes with prayer and praise














At Horeb
Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai, a significant location in the biblical narrative where God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. The mention of Horeb immediately brings to mind the covenantal relationship between God and Israel. It is a place of divine revelation and law-giving, yet here it becomes a site of grave sin. The Hebrew root for Horeb can mean "desolate" or "dry," which may symbolize the spiritual barrenness of the Israelites' actions in this context.

they made a calf
The act of making a calf refers to the infamous incident of the Golden Calf, as recorded in Exodus 32. The Israelites, in Moses' absence, pressured Aaron to create a tangible representation of God, reverting to idolatrous practices reminiscent of Egyptian worship. The Hebrew word for "calf" (עֵגֶל, 'egel) suggests a young bull, a common symbol of strength and fertility in ancient Near Eastern cultures. This act of creating a calf was a direct violation of the commandment against idolatry, highlighting the Israelites' impatience and lack of faith.

and worshiped
Worship, in this context, indicates the Israelites' misguided devotion and reverence towards the calf. The Hebrew root for "worship" (שָׁחָה, shachah) means to bow down or prostrate oneself, signifying submission and honor. This act of worship was a profound betrayal of their covenant with Yahweh, who had explicitly commanded them to worship Him alone. It underscores the human tendency to seek tangible representations of the divine, often leading to spiritual adultery.

a molten image
The term "molten image" refers to an idol cast from metal, in this case, gold. The Hebrew word for "molten" (מַסֵּכָה, massekhah) implies something poured or cast, emphasizing the artificial and man-made nature of the idol. This phrase serves as a stark contrast to the living God who cannot be contained or represented by any physical form. The creation of a molten image was a direct affront to God's transcendence and a return to the idolatrous practices that the Israelites were meant to leave behind in Egypt.

(19) In Horeb.--This expression, which is Deuteronomic (see Deuteronomy 4:15; Deuteronomy 5:2, &c), shows that Deuteronomy 9:8-12, as well as Exodus 32, was before the poet.

Verse 19. - They made a calf in Horeb (comp. Exodus 32:4; Deuteronomy 9:8-16). And worshipped the molten image; rather, a molten image (comp. Exodus 32:4, 24; Deuteronomy 9:12, 16). The sin was not only against the light of nature, but was expressly forbidden by the second commandment (Exodus 20:4, 5).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
At Horeb
בְּחֹרֵ֑ב (bə·ḥō·rêḇ)
Preposition-b | Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 2722: Horeb -- 'waste', a mountain in Sinai

they made
יַעֲשׂוּ־ (ya·‘ă·śū-)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 6213: To do, make

a calf
עֵ֥גֶל (‘ê·ḡel)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5695: A, calf, one nearly grown

and worshiped
וַ֝יִּשְׁתַּחֲו֗וּ (way·yiš·ta·ḥă·wū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 7812: To depress, prostrate

a molten image.
לְמַסֵּכָֽה׃ (lə·mas·sê·ḵāh)
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 4541: A pouring over, fusion of metal, a libation, league, a coverlet


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OT Poetry: Psalm 106:19 They made a calf in Horeb (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 106:18
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