Exodus 32:21-28

21Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought on them so great a sin?”

22Aaron said, “Do not let your anger burn hot, my lord; you know these people, that they tend to evil.

23They said to me, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’

24So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.”

25Moses saw that the people were running wild, for Aaron had let them get completely out of control, causing derision from their enemies.

26So Moses stood at the entrance of the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” All the Levites gathered around him,

27and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Each man fasten his sword on his side, and go back and forth from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’”

28The Levites did what Moses ordered, and that day about three thousand men of the people died.