Exodus 32 [Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, they rose up together against Aaron and said to him; Arise and make for us gods who shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us out from the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.

Thomson⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ [Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, they rose up together against Aaron and said to him; Arise and make for us gods who shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us out from the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. ² Thereupon Aaron said to them, Take off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives and daughters and bring them to me. ³ So all the people took off the gold ear-rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron; ⁴ and he received them at their hands and having made of them a molten bull he fashioned it with a graving tool and said, These are thy gods Israel, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. ⁵ And when Aaron saw it he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation, saying, To-morrow is the festival of the Lord. ⁶ So rising early in the morning he caused whole burnt offerings to be brought up, and offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving; and the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. ⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Go quickly, go down from this place; for thy people whom thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt have transgressed. ⁸ They have quickly turned aside out of the way in which thou commandedst them to walk and have made for themselves a young bull and worshipped it; and have sacrificed to it and said, These are thy gods, Israel, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. ⁹ [Omitted] ¹⁰ Now therefore let me alone, that being provoked to wrath against them I may utterly destroy them, and I will make thee a great nation. ¹¹ Upon which Moses made supplication before the Lord God and said, Shouldst thou, Lord, be provoked to wrath against thy people, whom thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with thine uplifted arm, ¹² perhaps the Egyptians may speak, saying, With an ill intent he led them out to slay them on the mountains and utterly consume them from the earth. Stay thy fierce indignation and be merciful at this wickedness of thy people, ¹³ remembering Abraham and Isaak and Jacob thy servants, to whom thou didst swear by thyself and didst speak saying, I will greatly multiply your seed like the stars of heaven for multitude; and didst say that thou wouldst give them all that land, that they should possess it for ever. ¹⁴ And when the Lord was moved with compassion to save his people, ¹⁵ Moses turned and went down from the mount with the two tables of the testimony in his hands. Now the tables were of stone written on both sides. On the one side and on the other they were written, ¹⁶ and the tables were the work of God. And the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tables. ¹⁷ And Joshua hearing the sound of the people shouting said to Moses, There is a sound of war in the camp. ¹⁸ To which he replied, It is not the sound of men singing alternately as they rush to battle, nor is it the sound of men answering each other on a retreat, but the sound of responsive strains at a revel, which I hear. ¹⁹ And when he approached the camp and saw the young bull and the choirs, Moses being inflamed with wrath threw the two tables from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mount. ²⁰ And taking the bull which they had made he burned it with fire and grinded it fine and strewed it in the water and made the Israelites drink it. ²¹ And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to thee, that thou hast brought upon them this great sin? ²² Upon which Aaron said to Moses, Be not angry, my lord, for thou knowest the impetuousness of this people. ²³ For they said to me, Make us gods which shall go before us, for as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt we know not what is become of him. ²⁴ Whereupon I said to them, If any one hath golden ornaments take them off. So they gave me and I cast into the fire, and out came that bull. ²⁵ And when Moses saw that the people were scattered abroad; for Aaron had scattered and made them a derision to their enemies, ²⁶ Moses stood at the gate of the camp and said, Who is for the Lord? Let him come to me. Upon which all the sons of Levi joined him. ²⁷ Then Moses said to them, Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel, Gird ye every man his sword on his thigh and pass through and wheel about from gate to gate through the camp and slay every man his brother and every man his neighbour and every one him who is nearest of kin to him. ²⁸ And the children of Levi did as Moses spoke to them and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. ²⁹ For Moses said to them, Fill your hands to-day for the Lord, every one with his son or with his brother that a blessing may be bestowed on you. ³⁰ And on the following day Moses said to the people, You have committed a great sin, now therefore I will go up to God that I may appease him for this sin of yours. ³¹ So Moses went back to the Lord and said, Lord! this people have committed a great sin and have made for themselves gods of gold. ³² Now therefore, if thou indeed forgivest this their sin, forgive it: but if not: blot me out of thy book which thou hast written. ³³ And the Lord said to Moses, Whoever have sinned before me, them will I blot out of my book. ³⁴ Now therefore go thy way; go down and lead this people to the place which I commanded thee. Behold my angel will go before thee but on the day when I visit I will bring upon them this sin of theirs. ³⁵ Now when the Lord had smitten the people for making the bull which Aaron had made,