Dual Panel1When Moses failed to come back down the mountain right away, the people went to Aaron. "Look," they said, "make us some gods who can lead us. This man Moses, who brought us here from Egypt, has disappeared. We don’t know what has happened to him."
2So Aaron said, "Tell your wives and sons and daughters to take off their gold earrings, and then bring them to me."
3All the people obeyed Aaron and brought him their gold earrings.
4Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded and tooled it into the shape of a calf. The people exclaimed, "O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt!"
5When Aaron saw how excited the people were about it, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD!"
6So the people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and indulged themselves in pagan revelry.
7Then the LORD told Moses, "Quick! Go down the mountain! The people you brought from Egypt have defiled themselves.
8They have already turned from the way I commanded them to live. They have made an idol shaped like a calf, and they have worshiped and sacrificed to it. They are saying, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.’"
9Then the LORD said, "I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are.
10Now leave me alone so my anger can blaze against them and destroy them all. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation instead of them."
11But Moses pleaded with the LORD his God not to do it. "O LORD!" he exclaimed. "Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and mighty acts?
12The Egyptians will say, ‘God tricked them into coming to the mountains so he could kill them and wipe them from the face of the earth.’ Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you are planning against your people!
13Remember your covenant with your servants––Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You swore by your own self, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. Yes, I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.’"
14So the LORD withdrew his threat and didn’t bring against his people the disaster he had threatened.
15Then Moses turned and went down the mountain. He held in his hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.
16These stone tablets were God’s work; the words on them were written by God himself.
17When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting below them, he exclaimed to Moses, "It sounds as if there is a war in the camp!"
18But Moses replied, "No, it’s neither a cry of victory nor a cry of defeat. It is the sound of a celebration."
19When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing. In terrible anger, he threw the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain.
20He took the calf they had made and melted it in the fire. And when the metal had cooled, he ground it into powder and mixed it with water. Then he made the people drink it.
21After that, he turned to Aaron. "What did the people do to you?" he demanded. "How did they ever make you bring such terrible sin upon them?"
22"Don’t get upset, sir," Aaron replied. "You yourself know these people and what a wicked bunch they are.
23They said to me, ‘Make us some gods to lead us, for something has happened to this man Moses, who led us out of Egypt.’
24So I told them, ‘Bring me your gold earrings.’ When they brought them to me, I threw them into the fire––and out came this calf!"
25When Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get completely out of control––and much to the amusement of their enemies––
26he stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, "All of you who are on the LORD’s side, come over here and join me." And all the Levites came.
27He told them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Strap on your swords! Go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other, killing even your brothers, friends, and neighbors."
28The Levites obeyed Moses, and about three thousand people died that day.
29Then Moses told the Levites, "Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, for you obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Because of this, he will now give you a great blessing."
30The next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a terrible sin, but I will return to the LORD on the mountain. Perhaps I will be able to obtain forgiveness for you."
31So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Alas, these people have committed a terrible sin. They have made gods of gold for themselves.
32But now, please forgive their sin––and if not, then blot me out of the record you are keeping."
33The LORD replied to Moses, "I will blot out whoever has sinned against me.
34Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about. Look! My angel will lead the way before you! But when I call the people to account, I will certainly punish them for their sins."
35And the LORD sent a great plague upon the people because they had worshiped the calf Aaron had made.