Exodus 32:4-19

4Then he took the gold from their 1hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a 2cast metal calf; and they said, “3This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” 5Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6So the next day they got up early and 4offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and 5the people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up 6to engage in lewd behavior.

7Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go 7down at once, for your people, whom 8you brought up from the land of Egypt, have 9behaved corruptly. 8They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. 10They have made for themselves a cast metal calf, and have worshiped it and 11have sacrificed to it and said, ‘1213This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” 914Then the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are 1516an obstinate people. 10So now 17leave Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and 18I will make of you a great nation.”

11Then 19Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said, “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 20the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘With evil motives He brought them out, to kill them on the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent of doing harm to Your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You 21swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will 22multiply your 23descendants as the stars of the heavens, and 24all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your 25descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 1426So the Lord relented of the harm which He said He would do to His people.

1527Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, 28tablets which were written on both 29sides; 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 30as 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 victory, Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat; But I hear the sound of singing.” 19And it came about, as soon as 31Moses approached the camp, that 32he saw the calf and the people dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and 33he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them to pieces 34at the foot of the mountain.