Exodus 32:4-19

4He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a 1molten calf; and they said, “2This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 5Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6So the next day they rose early and 3offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and 4the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up 5to play.

7Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go 6down at once, for your people, whom 7you brought up from the land of Egypt, have 8corrupted themselves. 8They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. 9They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and 10have sacrificed to it and said, ‘1112This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” 913The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are 1415an obstinate people. 10Now then 16let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and 17I will make of you a great nation.”

11Then 18Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12Why should 19the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You 20swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will 21multiply your 22descendants as the stars of the heavens, and 23all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your 24descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 1425So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.

1526Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, 27tablets which were written on both 28sides; they were written on one side and the other. 16The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. 17Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people 29as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” 18But he said, “It is not the sound of the cry of triumph, Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat; But the sound of singing I hear.” 19It came about, as soon as 30Moses came near the camp, that 31he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and 32he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them 33at the foot of the mountain.