18 But Moses said, It is not the sound of the cry of triumph, Neither is it the sound of the cry of defeat; But it is the sound of singing that I hear.
19 And as soon as he drew near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.
20 And he took the calf which they had made, and he burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it upon the water and made the children of Israel drink it.
21 And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you that you brought so great a sin upon them?
22 And Aaron said, Do not let the anger of my lord burn. You know the people, that they are set on evil;
23 For they said to me, Make gods for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
24 So I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.
25 And when Moses saw that the people were without restraint (for Aaron had let them be without restraint to be a derision among those who rise up against them),
26 Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, Whoever is for Jehovah, come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves to him.
27 And he said to them, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, Let each man put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each man kill his brother, and each man his companion, and each man his neighbor.
28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and that day about three thousand men among the people fell.
29 And Moses said, Fill your hands today to Jehovah, for every man has been against his son and against his brother, that He may bestow upon you a blessing today.
30 And on the next day Moses said to the people, You have sinned a great sin; and now I will go up to Jehovah; perhaps I can make expiation for your sin.
31 And Moses returned to Jehovah and said, Oh, this people have committed a great sin and have made gods of gold for themselves.
32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin – and if not, please blot me out of Your book which You have written.
33 And Jehovah said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.
34 And now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you. Now My Angel will go before you; nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.
35 And Jehovah struck the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.
CHAPTER 33
1 Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, To your seed I will give it.