1And the people saw that Moses was delaying to come down from the mountain, and the people assembled at Aaron and said to him, “Get up. Make gods for us who will go in front of us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt: we don’t know what has become of him!”
2And Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are in your wives’, your sons’, and your daughters’ ears, and bring them to me.” 3And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4And he took them from their hand and fashioned it with a stylus and made it a molten calf.**
And they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”‡
5And Aaron saw, and he built an altar in front of it, and Aaron called, and he said, “A festival to YHWH tomorrow!” 6And they got up early the next day, and they made burnt offerings and brought over peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and drink, and they got up to fool around.
7And YHWH spoke to Moses: “Go. Go down. Because your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, has corrupted. 8They’ve turned quickly from the way that I commanded them. They’ve made themselves a molten calf, and they’ve bowed to it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!‘” 9And YHWH said to Moses, “I’ve seen this people; and, here, it’s a hard-necked people. 10And now, leave off from me, and my anger will flare at them, and I’ll finish them, and I’ll make you into a big nation!”
11And Moses conciliated in front of YHWH, his God, and said, “Why, YHWH, should your anger flare at your people whom you brought out from the land of Egypt with big power and with a strong hand? 12Why should Egypt say, saying, ‘He brought them out for bad, to kill them in the mountains, and to finish them from on the face of the earth’? Turn back from your flaring anger, and relent about the bad to your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, that you swore to them by yourself, and you spoke to them: ‘I’ll multiply your seed like the stars of the skies, and I’ll give to your seed all this land that I’ve said, and they’ll possess it forever.’” 14And YHWH relented about the bad that He had spoken, to do to His people.
15And Moses turned and went down from the mountain. And the two tablets of witness were in his hand, tablets written from their two sides: from this side and from this side they were written. l6And the tablets: they were God’s doing. And the writing: it was God’s writing, inscribed on the tablets.
17And Joshua heard the sound of the people in its shouting, and he said to Moses, “A sound of war is in the camp.”
18And he said, “It’s not a sound of singing of victory, and it’s not a sound of singing of defeat. It’s just the sound of singing I hear!”
19And it was when he came close to the camp, and he saw the calf and dancing: and Moses’ anger flared, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them below the mountain. 20And he took the calf that they had made, and he burned it in fire and ground it until it was thin, and he scattered it on the face of the water, and he made the children of Israel drink!
21And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you’ve brought a big sin on it?!”
22And Aaron said, “Let my lord’s anger not flare. You know the people, that it’s in a bad state. 23And they said to me, ‘Make gods for us who will go in front of us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt: we don’t know what has become of him!’ 24And I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold: take it off.’ And they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out!”
25And Moses saw the people, that it was turned loose, because Aaron had turned it loose* —to denigration among their adversaries! 26And Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is for YHWH: to me!” And all the children of Levi were gathered to him. 27And he said to them, “YHWH, God of Israel, said this: ‘Set, each man, his sword on his thigh; cross over and come back from gate to gate in the camp; and kill, each man, his brother and, each man, his neighbor and, each man, his relative.’” 28And the children of Levi did according to Moses’ word, and about three thousand men fell from the people in that day. 29And Moses said, “Fill your hand to YHWH today—because each man was at his son and at his brother—and to put a blessing on you today.”
30And it was on the next day, and Moses said to the people, “You’ve committed a big sin. And now I’ll go up to YHWH. Perhaps I may make atonement for your sin.” 31And Moses went back to YHWH and said, “Please, this people has committed a big sin and made gods of gold for themselves. 32And now, if you will bear their sin—and if not, wipe me out from your scroll that you’ve written.”
33And YHWH said to Moses, “The one who has sinned against me, I’ll wipe him out from my scroll. 34And now, go. Lead the people to where I spoke to you. Here, my angel will go ahead of you. And, in the day that I take account, I’ll account their sin on them.” 35And YHWH struck the people because they had made the calf, which Aaron had made.