1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, Come, make gods for us who will 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.
2 And Aaron said to them, Tear off the gold rings, which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.
3 And all the people tore off the golden rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
4 And he took the gold from their hand and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!
5 And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; then Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast to Jehovah.
6 And they rose up early on the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
7 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, Go, get down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
8 They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and they have worshipped it and have sacrificed to it and said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!
9 And Jehovah said to Moses, I have seen this people, and there they are, a stiffnecked people.
10 Now therefore let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them, and I may consume them; and I will make you into a great nation.
11 And Moses entreated Jehovah his God and said, Jehovah, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12 Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, With evil intent He brought them out, to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Your burning anger, and repent of this evil against Your people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.
14 Thus Jehovah repented of the evil which He said He would do to His people.
15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both of their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16 And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets.
17 And when Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, There is a sound of war in the camp.