1  ◄Moses/I► stayed on top of the mountain a long time. When the people realized that he/I was not returning quickly, they gathered near Aaron and said to him, “We do not know what has happened to that man Moses who brought us here out of Egypt. So quickly, make us ◄an idol/a statue of a god► who will lead us!” 2 Aaron replied to them, “All right, I will do that, but tell your wives and your sons and your daughters to take off all their gold earrings and bring them to me.” 3 So the people did that. They took off all their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took all those gold earrings and melted them in a fire. He poured the gold into a mold and made a statue that looked like a young bull. The people saw it and said, “This is the god of us Israeli people! This is the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt!”

5 When Aaron saw what was happening, he built an altar in front of the statue of the young bull. Then he announced, “Tomorrow we will have a festival to honor Yahweh!” 6 So the people got up early the next morning and brought animals to kill and burn as sacrifices on the altar. They also brought sacrifices to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. Then they sat down to eat and drink wine. Then they got up and started dancing in a very immoral way.

7 Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Go back down from the mountain, because your people, the ones that you brought up here from Egypt, have already ◄become very depraved/wicked►! 8 They have already ◄left the road that I showed them/stopped obeying me►! They have made a statue of a young bull from melted gold. They have worshiped it and offered sacrifices to it. And they are saying, ‘This is the god of us Israeli people! This is the one who brought us up from Egypt!’ ”

9 Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “I have seen that these people are very stubborn. 10 I am very angry with them, and so I am going to get rid of them. Do not try to stop me! Then I will cause you and your descendants to become a great nation.”

11 But Moses/I pleaded with his/my God, Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh, ◄you should not be very angry with your people!/why are you so angry with your people [RHQ]?► These are the people whom you rescued from Egypt with very great power [MTY, DOU]! 12 Do not do anything that would allow the people of Egypt to say, ‘Their god led them out from our country, but he did that only because he wanted to kill them in the mountains and get rid of them completely [RHQ]!’ Stop being so angry! ◄Change your mind/Do not do what you have told me that you will do►! Do not do to your people this terrible thing that you have just said that you will do 13 Think about your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You solemnly promised them, ‘I will enable you to have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky.’ You said to them, ‘I will give to your descendants all the land that I am promising to give them. It will be their land forever.’ ”

14 So Yahweh changed his mind. He did not do to his people the terrible thing that he said he would do.

15 Moses/I turned away from God and went down the mountain, carrying in his hands the two stone slabs on which Yahweh had engraved his commandments. He had written on both sides of the slabs. 16 God himself had made the slabs, and he was the one who had engraved the commandments on them.

17 Joshua heard the very loud noise of the people shouting. So when he and I got near the camp, Joshua said, “There is a noise in the camp that sounds like the noise of a battle!” 18 But Moses/I replied, “No, that is not the shouting that people do when they have won a victory or when they have been defeated in a battle What I hear is the sound of loud singing!”

19 As soon as Moses/I came close to the camp and saw the statue of the young bull and saw the people dancing, he/I became extremely angry. He/I threw the stone tablets that he/I was carrying down onto the ground, there at the base of the mountain. 20 Then he/I took the statue of the young bull that they had made and melted it in the fire. When it cooled, he/I ground it into fine powder. Then he/I mixed the powder with water and forced the Israeli people to drink it. 21 Then he/I said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, with the result that you have made them commit such a terrible sin?” 22 Aaron replied, “Please do not be angry with me, sir. You know that these people are very determined to do evil things. 23 They said to me, ‘As for that man Moses, the one who brought us up here from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him. So make for us an idol that will lead us!’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Everyone who is wearing gold earrings should take them off.’ So they took them off and gave them to me. I threw them into the fire, and out came this statue of a young bull!”

25 Moses/I saw that Aaron had allowed the people to become completely out of control and to do things that would make their enemies think the Israeli people were foolish. 26 So he/I stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, “Everyone who is loyal to Yahweh should come closer to me!” So the descendants of Levi gathered around him/me. 27 Then he/I said to them, “Yahweh, the God of us Israeli people, commands that every one of you should fasten your sword to your side, and then go through the camp from this entrance to the other one, and kill some of your relatives and your companions and your neighbors.” 28 The descendants of Levi did what Moses/I told them to do, and they killed 3,000 men on that day. 29 Moses/I said to the descendants of Levi, “Today you have dedicated yourselves to serving Yahweh by ◄killing/not sparing► even your own sons and brothers, and as a result Yahweh will bless you.”

30 The next day, Moses/I said to the people, “You have committed a terrible sin. But I will now climb up the mountain again to talk with Yahweh. Perhaps I can persuade him to forgive you for sinning like this.” 31 So Moses/I went back up the mountain and said to Yahweh, “I am sorry to admit that these people have committed a terrible sin. They have made for themselves a gold idol and have worshiped it. 32 But now I ask you to please forgive them for having sinned. If you will not forgive them, then erase my name from the book in which you have written the names of your people.” 33 But Yahweh said to Moses/me, “It is only those who have sinned against me whose names I will erase from that book. 34 Now you go back down and lead the Israeli people to the place that I told you about. Keep in mind that my angel will go in front of you. But, at the time that I determine, I will punish them for their sin.”

35  Later Yahweh caused a plague to strike the people because they had told Aaron to make the gold statue of a young bull.