Exodus 32:14-35
14And the Lord arelented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.15Then bMoses turned and went down from the mountain with the ctwo tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. 16 dThe tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. 17When eJoshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” 18But he said, “It is not the sound of fshouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” 19And as soon as he came near the camp and gsaw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.
21And Moses said to Aaron, h“What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” 22And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. iYou know the people, that they are set on evil. 23For jthey said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24So kI said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
25And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, lto the derision of their enemies), 26then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you mkill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” 28And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. 29And Moses said, “Today you have been nordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”
30The next day Moses said to the people, o“You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; pperhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, qthis people has sinned a great sin. They have rmade for themselves gods of gold. 32But now, if syou will forgive their sin—but if not, please tblot me out of uyour book that you have written.” 33But the Lord said to Moses, v“Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. 34 wBut now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; xbehold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”
35Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.
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