Exodus 32-34

New International Reader's Version

Israel Worships a Golden Calf

32 The people saw that Moses took a long time to come down from the mountain. So they gathered around Aaron. They said to him, “Come. Make us a god that will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him.”

² Aaron answered them, “Take the gold earrings off your wives, your sons and your daughters. Bring the earrings to me.” ³ So all the people took off their earrings. They brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took what they gave him and made it into a metal statue of a god. It looked like a calf. Aaron shaped it with a tool. Then the people said, “Israel, here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.”

⁵ When Aaron saw what they were doing, he built an altar in front of the calf. He said, “Tomorrow will be a feast day to honor the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day the people got up early. They sacrificed burnt offerings and brought friendship offerings. They sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to dance wildly in front of their god.

⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “Go down. Your people you brought up out of Egypt have become very sinful. ⁸ They have quickly turned away from what I commanded them. They have made themselves a metal statue of a god in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down and sacrificed to it. And they have said, ‘Israel, here is your god who brought you up out of Egypt.’

⁹ “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses. “They are stubborn. ¹⁰ Now leave me alone. I will destroy them because of my great anger. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

¹¹ But Moses asked the Lord his God to have mercy on the people. “Lord,” he said, “why should you destroy your people in anger? You used your great power and mighty hand to bring them out of Egypt. ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out to hurt them. He wanted to kill them in the mountains. He wanted to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn away from your great anger. Please take pity on your people. Don’t destroy them! ¹³ Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel. You made a promise to them in your own name. You said, ‘I will make your children after you as many as the stars in the sky. I will give them all this land I promised them. It will belong to them forever.’ ” ¹⁴ Then the Lord took pity on his people. He didn’t destroy them as he had said he would.

¹⁵ Moses turned and went down the mountain. He had the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. Words were written on both sides of the tablets, front and back. ¹⁶ The tablets were the work of God. The words had been written by God. They had been carved on the tablets.

¹⁷ Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting. So he said to Moses, “It sounds like war in the camp.”

¹⁸ Moses replied,

¹⁹ As Moses approached the camp, he saw the calf. He also saw the people dancing. So he was very angry. He threw the tablets out of his hands. They broke into pieces at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰ He took the calf the people had made. He burned it in the fire. Then he ground it into powder. He scattered it on the water. And he made the Israelites drink it.

²¹ He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you? How did they make you lead them into such terrible sin?”

²² “Please don’t be angry,” Aaron answered. “You know how these people like to do what is evil. ²³ They said to me, ‘Make us a god that will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him.’ ²⁴ So I told them, ‘Anyone who has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ They gave me the gold. I threw it into the fire. And out came this calf!”

²⁵ Moses saw that the people were running wild. Aaron had let them get out of control. The people had become a joke to their enemies. ²⁶ Moses stood at the entrance to the camp. He said, “Anyone on the Lord’s side, come to me.” All the Levites joined him.

²⁷ Then he spoke to them. He said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Each man must put on his sword. Then he must go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other. Each man must kill his brother and friend and neighbor.’ ” ²⁸ The Levites did as Moses commanded. About 3,000 of the people died that day. ²⁹ Then Moses said to the Levites, “You have been set apart for the Lord today. You fought against your own sons and brothers. And he has blessed you this day.”

³⁰ The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a terrible sin. But now I will go up to the Lord. Maybe if I pray to him, he will forgive your sin.”

³¹ So Moses went back to the Lord. He said, “These people have committed a terrible sin. They have made a god out of gold for themselves. ³² Now please forgive their sin. But if you won’t, then erase my name out of the book you have written.”

³³ The Lord replied to Moses. The Lord said, “I will erase out of my book only the names of those who have sinned against me. ³⁴ Now go. Lead the people to the place I spoke about. My angel will go ahead of you. But when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

³⁵ The Lord struck the people with a plague. That’s because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

33 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place. You and the people you brought up out of Egypt must leave it. Go up to the land I promised to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I said to them, ‘I will give it to your children after you.’ ² I will send an angel ahead of you. I will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ³ Go up to the land that has plenty of milk and honey. But I will not go with you. You are stubborn. I might destroy you on the way.”

⁴ When the people heard these painful words, they began to mourn. No one put on any jewelry. ⁵ The Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are stubborn. If I went with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your jewelry. Then I will decide what to do with you.’ ” ⁶ So the people took off their jewelry at Mount Horeb.

The Tent of Meeting

⁷ Moses used to take a tent and set it up far outside the camp. He called it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone who wanted to ask the Lord a question would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. ⁸ When Moses would go out to the tent, everyone would get up and stand at the entrances to their tents. They would watch Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹ As Moses would go into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down. It would stay at the entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. ¹⁰ The people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent. Then all of them would stand and worship at the entrances to their tents. ¹¹ The Lord would speak to Moses face to face like one would speak to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp. But Joshua, his young helper, didn’t leave the tent. Joshua was the son of Nun.

Moses and the Glory of the Lord

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people.’ But you haven’t let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know your name. I know all about you. And I am pleased with you.’ ¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me more about yourself. Then I can know you. And I can continue to please you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

¹⁴ The Lord replied, “I will go with you. And I will give you rest.”

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If you don’t go with us, don’t send us up from here. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and your people? You must go with us. How else will we be different from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “I will do exactly what you have asked. I am pleased with you. And I know your name. I know all about you.”

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

¹⁹ The Lord said, “I will make all my goodness pass in front of you. And I will announce my name, the Lord, in front of you. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. And I will show love to those I love. ²⁰ But you can’t see my face,” he said. “No one can see me and stay alive.”

²¹ The Lord continued, “There is a place near me where you can stand on a rock. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you in an opening in the rock. I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will remove my hand. You will see my back. But my face must not be seen.”

The New Stone Tablets

34 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut out two stone tablets that are just like the first ones. I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ² Be ready in the morning. Then come up on Mount Sinai. Meet with me there on top of the mountain. ³ No one must come with you. No one must be seen anywhere on the mountain. Not even the flocks and herds must be allowed to eat grass in front of the mountain.”

⁴ So Moses carved out two stone tablets just like the first ones. Early in the morning he went up Mount Sinai. He carried the two stone tablets in his hands. He did as the Lord had commanded him to do. ⁵ Then the Lord came down in the cloud. He stood there with Moses and announced his name, the Lord. ⁶ As he passed in front of Moses, he called out. He said, “I am the Lord, the Lord. I am the God who is tender and kind. I am gracious. I am slow to get angry. I am faithful and full of love. ⁷ I continue to show my love to thousands of people. I forgive those who do evil. I forgive those who refuse to obey me. And I forgive those who sin. But I do not let guilty people go without punishing them. I cause the sins of the parents to affect their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

⁸ Moses bowed down to the ground at once and worshiped. ⁹ “Lord,” he said, “if you are pleased with me, then go with us. Even though these people are stubborn, forgive the evil things we have done. Forgive our sin. And accept us as your people.”

¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “I am making a covenant with you. I will do wonderful things in front of all your people. I will do amazing things that have never been done before in any nation in the whole world. The people you live among will see the things that I, the Lord, will do for you. And they will see how wonderful those things really are. ¹¹ Obey what I command you today. I will drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites to make room for you. ¹² Be careful. Do not make a peace treaty with those who live in the land where you are going. They will be a trap to you. ¹³ Break down their altars. Smash their sacred stones. Cut down the poles they use to worship the female god named Asherah. ¹⁴ Do not worship any other god. The Lord is a jealous God. In fact, his name is Jealous.

¹⁵ “Be careful not to make a peace treaty with the people living in the land. They commit sin by offering sacrifices to their gods. They will invite you to eat their sacrifices, and you will do it. ¹⁶ You will choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons. And those daughters will commit sin by worshiping their gods. Then they will lead your sons to do the same thing.

¹⁷ “Do not make any statues of gods.

¹⁸ “Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, just as I commanded you. Do it at the appointed time in the month of Aviv. You came out of Egypt in that month.

¹⁹ “Every male animal born first to its mother belongs to me. That includes your livestock. It includes herds and flocks alike. ²⁰ Sacrifice a lamb to buy back every male donkey born first to its mother. But if you do not buy the donkey back, break its neck. Buy back all your oldest sons.

“You must not come to worship me with your hands empty.

²¹ “Do your work in six days. But you must rest on the seventh day. Even when you are plowing your land or gathering your crops, you must rest on the seventh day.

²² “Celebrate the Feast of Weeks. Bring the first share of your wheat crop. Celebrate the Feast of Booths. Hold it in the fall. ²³ Three times a year all your men must come to worship me. I am your Lord and King, the God of Israel. ²⁴ I will drive out nations ahead of you. I will increase your territory. Go up three times a year to worship me. While you are doing that, I will keep others from wanting to take any of your land for themselves. I am the Lord your God.

²⁵ “Do not include anything made with yeast when you offer me the blood of a sacrifice. You must not keep any of the meat from the sacrifice of the Passover Feast until morning.

²⁶ “Bring the best of the first share of your crops to the house of the Lord your God.

“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down the words I have spoken. I have made a covenant with you and with Israel in keeping with those words.” ²⁸ Moses was there with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. He didn’t eat any food or drink any water. The Lord wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant law. Those words are the Ten Commandments.

The Face of Moses Shines

²⁹ Moses came down from Mount Sinai. He had the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. His face was shining because he had spoken with the Lord. But he didn’t realize it. ³⁰ Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses. His face was shining. So they were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called out to them. So Aaron and all the leaders of the community came to him. And Moses spoke to them. ³² After that, all the Israelites came near him. And he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.

³³ Moses finished speaking to them. Then he covered his face with a veil. ³⁴ But when he would go to speak with the Lord, he would remove the veil. He would keep it off until he came out. Then he would tell the people what the Lord had commanded. ³⁵ They would see that his face was shining. So Moses would cover his face with the veil again. He would keep it on until he went in again to speak with the Lord.