Exodus 32 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Golden Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, 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.”(A)2 Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.”(B)3 So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took these from them, formed them in a mold,[a] and cast an image of a calf, and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”(C)5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” 6 They rose early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being, and the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to revel.(D)

7 The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely;(E)8 they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ”(F)9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are.(G)10 Now let me alone so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, and of you I will make a great nation.”(H)

11 But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?(I)12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people.(J)13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”(K)14 And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.(L)

15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, tablets that were written on both sides, written on the front and on the back.(M)16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets.(N)17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” 18 But he said,

“It is not the sound made by victors
or the sound made by losers;
it is the sound of singing that I hear.”

19 As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’s anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.(O)20 He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.(P)

21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?”(Q)22 And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are wicked.(R)23 They said to me, ‘Make gods for us, 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.’(S)24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”(T)

25 When Moses saw that the people were out of control (for Aaron had lost control of them, prompting derision among their enemies), 26 then 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. 27 He said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Put your sword on your side, each of you! Go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill your brother, your friend, and your neighbor.”(U)28 The sons of Levi did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand of the people fell on that day. 29 Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of a son or a brother, and so have brought a blessing on yourselves this day.”

30 On the next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”(V)31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold.(W)32 But now, if you will only forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of the book that you have written.”(X)33 But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book.(Y)34 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; see, my angel shall go in front of you. Nevertheless, when the day for punishment comes, I will punish them for their sin.”(Z)

35 Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf—the one that Aaron had made.(AA)

Footnotes

  1. 32.4Or fashioned it with an engraving tool; meaning of Heb uncertain

Cross references

  1. 32.1 : Ex 13.21; 24.18; Deut 9.9; Acts 7.40
  2. 32.2 : Ex 35.22
  3. 32.4 : Deut 9.16; Acts 7.41
  4. 32.6 : 1 Cor 10.7
  5. 32.7 : Gen 6.11, 12; Deut 9.12; Dan 9.24
  6. 32.8 : Ex 20.3, 4, 23; 1 Kings 12.28
  7. 32.9 : Ex 33.3, 5; 34.9; Num 14.11–20; Acts 7.51
  8. 32.10 : Num 14.12; Deut 9.14
  9. 32.11 : Deut 9.18
  10. 32.12 : v 14; Num 14.13; Deut 9.28
  11. 32.13 : Gen 12.7; 13.15; 22.16; Ex 13.5; Heb 6.13
  12. 32.14 : Ps 106.45
  13. 32.15 : Deut 9.15
  14. 32.16 : Ex 31.18
  15. 32.19 : Deut 9.16, 17
  16. 32.20 : Deut 9.21
  17. 32.21 : Gen 26.10
  18. 32.22 : Deut 9.24
  19. 32.23 : v 1
  20. 32.24 : v 4
  21. 32.27 : Num 25.7–12
  22. 32.30 : Num 25.13; 1 Sam 12.20, 23; 2 Sam 16.12
  23. 32.31 : Ex 20.23; Deut 9.18
  24. 32.32 : Ps 69.28; Dan 12.1; Rom 9.3; Rev 3.5; 13.8; 17.8; 21.27
  25. 32.33 : Deut 29.20; Ps 9.5
  26. 32.34 : Ex 3.17; 23.20; Ps 99.8
  27. 32.35 : vv 4, 24, 28

You Might Also Like:

Exodus 32 - Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

32 And the people see that Moses is delaying to come down from the mount, and the people assemble against Aaron, and say unto him, `Rise, make for us gods who go before us, for this Moses -- the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt -- we have not known what hath happened to him.' 2 And Aar...
Read More

Exodus 32 - Wycliffe Bible (WYC)

32 Forsooth the people saw, that Moses made tarrying to come down from the hill, and it was gathered together against Aaron, and said, Rise thou, and make gods to us, that shall go before us, for we wot not what is befallen to this man Moses, that led us out of the land of Egypt. (And the people saw...
Read More

Exodus 32 - World English Bible (WEB)

32 When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”...
Read More

Exodus 32 - The Voice (VOICE)

32 When the people realized Moses was taking a long time to return from his trek up the mountain, they got together and approached Aaron.People: We have no idea what happened to this fellow Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt.[a] He left you in charge, so get up and make us gods who will l...
Read More

Exodus 32 - Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Molten Calf and Smashing Tablets32 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what’s become o...
Read More

Exodus 32 - Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Golden Calf32 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Up, 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...
Read More

Exodus 32 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

The Golden Calf32 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Up, 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...
Read More

Exodus 32 - New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

The Golden Calf32 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, 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.” ...
Read More

Exodus 32 - New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

The Golden Calf32 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make gods for us, 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.’ ...
Read More

Exodus 32 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Golden Calf32 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, 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.”(A...
Read More

Exodus 32 - New Living Translation (NLT)

The Gold Calf32 When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.” 2 So Aaron said, “Take...
Read More

Exodus 32 - New Life Version (NLV)

The Gold Calf32 When the people saw that Moses was staying a long time before coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron, and said, “Come, make a god for us who will go in front of us. For we do not know what has become of Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt.” 2 Aa...
Read More

Exodus 32 - New King James Version (NKJV)

The Gold Calf(A)32 Now when the people saw that Moses (B)delayed coming down from the mountain, the people (C)gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, (D)“Come, make us [a]gods that shall (E)go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who (F)brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not kno...
Read More

Exodus 32 - New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

The golden calf32 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered round Aaron and said, ‘Come, make us gods[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 2 Aaron answered them, ‘T...
Read More

Exodus 32 - New International Version (NIV)

The Golden Calf32 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain,(A) they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[a] who will go before(B) us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”(C) 2 Aaron answere...
Read More

Exodus 32 - New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

Israel Worships a Golden Calf32 The people saw that Moses took a long time to come down from the mountain. So they gathered around Aaron. They said to him, “Come. Make us a god that will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him.” 2 Aaron answe...
Read More

Exodus 32 - New English Translation (NET)

The Sin of the Golden Calf32 [a] When the people saw that Moses delayed[b] in coming down[c] from the mountain, they[d] gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up,[e] make us gods[f] that will go before us. As for this fellow Moses,[g] the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not ...
Read More