The Golden Calf

1 But the people saw that Moses was delaying to come down from the mountain; and the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, Get up, make us idols who will go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. 2 And Aaron said to them, Take off the gold earrings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. 3 And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he took the gold from their hands, shaped it with an engraving tool, and made it into a cast-metal calf. And they said, These are your idols, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. 5 And Aaron saw it, and built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow there shall be a feast before the Lord. 6 And they got up early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices; and the people reclined to eat and drink,⁠a and got up to celebrate. 7 And the Lord spoke with Moses, Go down, for your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves; 8 they have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made a cast-metal calf, and have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it, and have said, These are your idols, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. 9 And the Lord said to Moses, It is known before Me that this people is stiff-necked. 10 And now stop your prayer before Me, so that My anger may burn against them, and I will destroy them, and I will make you into a great people. 11 But Moses prayed before the Lord his God, and said, Why, Lord, does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought up from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, He led them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth? Turn from the fierceness of Your anger, and relent from the harm You have threatened to do to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your Memra, and to whom You said, I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall possess it forever. 14 And the Lord relented from the harm which He had threatened to do to His people.

Moses Returns to the Camp

15 And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand: the tablets were inscribed on both sides; they were inscribed on the front and on the back. 16 And the tablets were the work of the Lord, and the writing was the writing of the Lord, written clearly on the tablets. 17 And Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, and he said to Moses, There is a sound of war in the camp. 18 But he said, It is not the sound of men who are winning, nor the sound of the weak who are being defeated; it is the sound of people reveling that I hear. 19 And as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf that they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it on the surface of the water, and made the sons of Israel drink it. 21 And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin upon them? 22 And Aaron said, Do not let my lord's anger burn: you know the people, that they are inclined to evil. 23 And they said to me, Make us idols who will go before us: for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. 24 And I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let him take it off and give it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out. 25 And Moses saw that the people had become worthless; for Aaron had made them worthless, giving them a bad name for generations;⁠b 26 and Moses stood at the gate of the camp, and said, Whoever fears the Lord, come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 And he said to them, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Each man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate through the camp, and each kill his brother, and each his companion, and each his neighbor. 28 And the sons of Levi did as Moses said, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. 29 And Moses said, Bring an offering today before the Lord with your hands, each man at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that blessings may come upon you today.

Moses Prays for the People

30 And on the next day Moses said to the people, You have committed a great sin; but now I will go up before the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. 31 And Moses returned before the Lord and said in his prayer, This people has committed a great sin, for they have made idols of gold for themselves. 32 But now, please forgive their sin! If not, erase me of Your Book which You have written. 33 And the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has sinned before Me, I will erase of My Book. 34 But now go, lead the people to the place of which I have told you: look, My Angel shall go before you; and on the day that I punish, I will punish them for their sin. 35 And the Lord struck the people because they had worshiped the calf which Aaron made.