Exodus 32-34

New American Standard Bible

The Golden Calf

32 Now when the people saw that Moses ^(A)delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled around Aaron and said to him, “Come, ^(B)make us ^[a]a god who will go before us; for ^(C)this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.” ²Aaron said to them, “^(D)Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³So all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴Then he took the gold from their ^[b]hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a ^(E)cast metal calf; and they said, “^[c]This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ⁵Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” ⁶So the next day they got up early and ^(F)offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and ^(G)the people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up ^(H)to engage in lewd behavior.

⁷Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go ^[d]down at once, for your people, whom ^(I)you brought up from the land of Egypt, have ^(J)behaved corruptly. ⁸They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. ^(K)They have made for themselves a cast metal calf, and have worshiped it and ^(L)have sacrificed to it and said, ‘^[e]^(M)This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” ⁹^(N)Then the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are ^[f]^(O)an obstinate people. ¹⁰So now ^(P)leave Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and ^(Q)I will make of you a great nation.”

Moses’ Plea

¹¹Then ^(R)Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹²Why should ^(S)the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘With evil motives He brought them out, to kill them on the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent of doing harm to Your people. ¹³Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You ^(T)swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will ^(U)multiply your ^[g]descendants as the stars of the heavens, and ^(V)all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your ^[h]descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ¹⁴^(W)So the Lord relented of the harm which He said He would do to His people.

¹⁵^(X)Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, ^(Y)tablets which were written on both ^[i]sides; they were written on one side and the other. ¹⁶The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. ¹⁷Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people ^[j]as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” ¹⁸But he said,

“It is not the sound of the cry of victory,
Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat;
But I hear the sound of singing.”

Moses’ Anger

¹⁹And it came about, as soon as ^[k]Moses approached the camp, that ^(Z)he saw the calf and the people dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and ^(AA)he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them to pieces ^[l]at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰Then ^(AB)he took the calf which they had made and completely burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.

²¹Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” ²²And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, ^(AC)that they are ^[m]prone to evil. ²³For ^(AD)they said to me, ‘Make ^[n]a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ ²⁴So I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ Then they gave it to me, and ^(AE)I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

²⁵Now when Moses saw that the people were ^[o]out of control—for Aaron had ^(AF)let them ^[p]get out of control to the point of being an object of ridicule among ^[q]their enemies— ²⁶Moses then stood at the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. ²⁷And he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Every man of you put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his ^[r]neighbor.’” ²⁸So ^(AG)the sons of Levi did ^[s]as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. ²⁹Then Moses said, “^[t]Dedicate yourselves today to the Lord—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.”

³⁰And on the next day Moses said to the people, “^(AH)You yourselves have ^[u]committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the Lord; perhaps I can ^(AI)make atonement for your sin.” ³¹Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, this people has ^[v]committed a great sin, and they have made a ^(AJ)god of gold for themselves! ³²But now, if You will forgive their sin, very well; but if not, please wipe me out from Your ^(AK)book which You have written!” ³³However, the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, ^(AL)I will wipe him out of My book. ³⁴But go now, lead the people ^(AM)where I told you. Behold, ^(AN)My angel shall go before you; nevertheless ^(AO)on the day when I ^[w]punish, ^(AP)I will ^[x]punish them for their sin.” ³⁵^(AQ)Then the Lord struck the people with a plague, because of ^(AR)what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.

The Journey Resumed

33 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which ^(AS)I swore to Abraham, ^(AT)Isaac, and ^(AU)Jacob, saying, ‘^(AV)To your ^[y]descendants I will give it.’ ²And I will send ^(AW)an angel before you and ^(AX)I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ³Go up to a land ^(AY)flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are ^[z]^(AZ)an obstinate people, and ^(BA)I might destroy you on the way.”

⁴When the people heard this ^[aa]sad word, ^(BB)they went into mourning, and none of them put on his jewelry. ⁵For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are ^[ab]^(BC)an obstinate people; if I ^[ac]were to go up in your midst for just one moment, I would destroy you. So now, take off your ^[ad]jewelry that I may know what I shall do to you.’” ⁶So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their jewelry, from Mount Horeb onward.

⁷Now Moses used to take ^(BD)the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And ^(BE)everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp. ⁸And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹Whenever Moses entered the tent, ^(BF)the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; ^(BG)and ^[ae]the Lord would speak with Moses. ¹⁰When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would stand and worship, each at the entrance of his tent. ¹¹So ^(BH)the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When ^[af]Moses returned to the camp, ^(BI)his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Moses Intercedes

¹²Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘^(BJ)Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know ^(BK)whom You will send with me. ^(BL)Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ ¹³Now then, if I have found favor in Your sight in any way, please ^(BM)let me know Your ways so that I may know You, in order that I may find favor in Your sight. ^(BN)Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴And He said, “^(BO)My presence shall go with you, and ^(BP)I will give you rest.” ¹⁵Then he said to Him, “^(BQ)If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. ¹⁶For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that ^(BR)we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are on the face of the ^[ag]earth?”

¹⁷The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; ^(BS)for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” ¹⁸^(BT)Then Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory!” ¹⁹And He said, “^(BU)I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and ^(BV)I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.” ²⁰He further said, “You cannot see My face, ^(BW)for mankind shall not see Me and live!” ²¹Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place ^[ah]by Me, and ^(BX)you shall stand there on the rock; ²²and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and ^(BY)cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but ^(BZ)My face shall not be seen.”

The Two Tablets Replaced

34 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Cut out for yourself ^(CA)two stone tablets like the former ones, and ^(CB)I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you smashed. ²So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to ^(CC)Mount Sinai, and ^[ai]present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. ³And ^(CD)no one is to come up with you, nor let anyone be seen ^[aj]anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and the herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.” ⁴So he cut out ^(CE)two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses got up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and he took the two stone tablets in his hand. ⁵And ^(CF)the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he ^[ak]called upon the name of the Lord. ⁶Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, ^(CG)compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and ^[al]truth; ⁷who ^(CH)keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He ^(CI)will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, ^(CJ)inflicting the ^[am]punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” ⁸And Moses hurried ^[an]^(CK)to bow low toward the ground and worship. ⁹Then he said, “^(CL)If in any way I have found favor in Your sight, Lord, please may the Lord go along in our midst, even though ^[ao]^(CM)the people are so obstinate, and ^(CN)pardon our wrongdoing and our sin, and ^(CO)take us as Your own ^[ap]possession.”

The Covenant Renewed

¹⁰Then ^[aq]God said, “Behold, ^(CP)I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people ^(CQ)I will perform miracles which have not been ^[ar]produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people ^[as]among whom you live will see the working of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you.

¹¹“^[at]Be sure to comply with what I am commanding you this day: behold, ^(CR)I am going to drive out the Amorite from you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ¹²^(CS)Be careful that you do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. ¹³^(CT)But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their memorial stones, and cut down their ^[au]^(CU)Asherim ¹⁴—for ^(CV)you shall not worship any other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— ¹⁵otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they would prostitute themselves with their gods and ^(CW)sacrifice to their gods, and someone ^(CX)might invite you ^[av]to eat of his sacrifice, ¹⁶and ^(CY)you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons also to prostitute themselves with their gods. ¹⁷^(CZ)You shall not make for yourself any gods cast in metal.

¹⁸“You shall keep ^(DA)the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For ^(DB)seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, ^[aw]as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the ^(DC)month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.

¹⁹“^(DD)The ^[ax]firstborn from every womb belongs to Me, and all your male livestock, the ^[ay]firstborn from ^[az]cattle and sheep. ²⁰^(DE)You shall redeem with a lamb the firstborn from a donkey; and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem ^(DF)all the firstborn of your sons. ^[ba]^(DG)None are to appear before Me empty-handed.

²¹“You shall work ^(DH)six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest. ²²And you shall celebrate ^(DI)the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. ²³^(DJ)Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord ^[bb]God, the God of Israel. ²⁴For I will ^[bc]^(DK)drive out nations from you and enlarge your borders, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.

²⁵“^(DL)You shall not ^[bd]offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, ^(DM)nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to ^[be]be left over until morning.

²⁶“You shall bring ^(DN)the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God.

“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷Then the Lord said to Moses, “^(DO)Write ^[bf]down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made ^(DP)a covenant with you and with Israel.” ²⁸So he was there with the Lord for ^(DQ)forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And ^[bg]^(DR)He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, ^(DS)the Ten ^[bh]Commandments.

Moses’ Face Shines

²⁹And it came about, when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the ^(DT)two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that ^(DU)the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. ³⁰So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and ^(DV)they were afraid to approach him. ³¹Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers in the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them. ³²Afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he commanded them to do everything that the Lord had spoken ^[bi]to him on Mount Sinai. ³³When Moses had finished speaking with them, ^(DW)he put a veil over his face. ³⁴But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, ^(DX)he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded, ³⁵^(DY)the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with Him.