Exodus 32:21-28

21Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” 22And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, 1that they are 2prone to evil. 23For 3they said to me, ‘Make 4a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt--we do not know what happened to him.’ 24So I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ Then they gave it to me, and 5I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

25Now when Moses saw that the people were 6out of control--for Aaron had 7let them 8get out of control to the point of being an object of ridicule among 9their enemies-- 26Moses then stood at the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. 27And he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Every man of you put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his 10neighbor.’” 28So 11the sons of Levi did 12as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.