² And Aaron said to them, “Break off the ^(A)golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. ^4 (B)And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf.

Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that ^(C)brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

⁵⁰ Therefore we have brought an offering for the Lord, what every man found of ornaments of gold: armlets and bracelets and signet rings and earrings and necklaces, ^(A)to make ^[a]atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”

²⁴ Then Gideon said to them, “I would like to ^[a]make a request of you, that each of you would give me the earrings from his plunder.” For they had golden earrings, ^(A)because they were Ishmaelites.

²⁵ So they answered, “We will gladly give them.” And they spread out a garment, and each man threw into it the earrings from his plunder. ²⁶ Now the weight of the gold earrings that he requested was one thousand seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments, pendants, and purple robes which were on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were around their camels’ necks. ²⁷ Then Gideon ^(B)made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, ^(C)Ophrah. And all Israel ^(D)played the harlot with it there. It became ^(E)a snare to Gideon and to his house.

²⁵ You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not ^(A)covet^[a] the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.