The Golden Calf

32 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered together before Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a ^[a]god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ² So Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ And he took the gold from their hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a molten ^[b]calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ⁵ Now when Aaron saw the molten calf, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord!” ⁶ So they got up early the next day and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; then the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play [shamefully—without moral restraint].

⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸ They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” ⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people. ¹⁰ Now therefore, let Me alone and do not interfere, so that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you (your descendants) a great nation.”