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The Golden Calf
1
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods 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." SCode Exo 24:18 Exo 13:21 Exo 32:23 Deu 9:9 Act 7:40~41
2
Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." SCode Exo 12:35~36 Jdg 8:24~27
3
So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.
4
He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." SCode Jdg 17:3~4 1Ki 12:28 Neh 9:18 Psa 106:19
5
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD." SCode 2Ki 10:20
6
So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. SCode Gen 26:8 Jdg 21:21 1Cor 10:7
7
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. SCode Deu 9:12~16 Jdg 2:19 Hos 9:9
8
They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ’These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ SCode Exo 20:3~4 Exo 20:23 Deu 9:16
9
"I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. SCode Exo 33:3 Exo 33:5 Exo 34:9 Deu 9:6 Deu 31:27 2Chr 30:8 Isa 48:4 Act 7:51
10
Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation." SCode Exo 33:3 Exo 22:24 Num 14:12~16
11
But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. "Lord," he said, "why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? SCode Deu 9:26~29 Psa 74:1~2 Psa 106:23
12
Why should the Egyptians say, ’It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. SCode Exo 32:14 Deu 32:27
13
Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ’I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’" SCode Gen 26:4 Gen 12:7 Gen 15:7 Gen 35:11~12 Gen 28:13 Gen 13:15 Gen 22:16 Gen 48:16 Gen 15:18 Heb 6:13
14
Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. SCode 1Chr 21:15 Psa 106:45 Jer 18:8 Jer 26:13 Jer 26:15 Jer 26:19 Amo 7:3 Amo 7:6 Jon 4:2 Jon 3:10
15
Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. SCode Exo 34:29
16
The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. SCode Exo 31:18
17
When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, "There is the sound of war in the camp." SCode Exo 17:9~10 Exo 33:11 Exo 24:13
18
Moses replied: "It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear." SCode Jer 51:14
19
When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. SCode Deu 9:16~18 Deu 9:21
20
And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
21
He said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?" SCode Gen 20:9
22
"Do not be angry, my lord," Aaron answered. "You know how prone these people are to evil. SCode Exo 16:2 Exo 17:2 Exo 17:4 Exo 14:11 Exo 16:20 Exo 15:24 1Sam 15:24
23
They said to me, ’Make us gods 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.’ SCode Exo 32:1
24
So I told them, ’Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!" SCode Exo 32:2~4
25
Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. SCode Exo 32:12
26
So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, "Whoever is for the LORD, come to me." And all the Levites rallied to him.
27
Then he said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ’Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’" SCode Num 25:5 Deu 33:9
28
The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.
29
Then Moses said, "You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day." SCode Num 25:11~13 Deu 13:6~10 Zech 13:3 Mt 10:37 Lk 14:26
30
The next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." SCode Exo 32:21 1Sam 12:20 2Sam 16:12 Amo 5:15
31
So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. SCode Exo 20:23 Exo 32:30
32
But now, please forgive their sin - but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written." SCode Num 14:19 Psa 56:8 Psa 139:16 Psa 69:28 Dan 12:1 Rom 9:3 Phil 4:3
33
The LORD replied to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. SCode Ezk 18:4 Ezk 18:20
34
Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin." SCode Exo 33:12 Exo 14:19
35
And the LORD struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
NIV Footnotes
  1. 32:1 Or a god; also in verses 23 and 31
  2. 32:4 Or This is your god; also in verse 8
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