Exodus 32 :: New International Version (NIV)

The Golden Calf

(Deu 9:6–29 )

Exo 32:1When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[fn] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

Exo 32:2

Exo 32:2Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”

Exo 32:3

Exo 32:3So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.

Exo 32:4

Exo 32:4He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,[fn] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

Exo 32:5

Exo 32:5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.”

Exo 32:6

Exo 32:6So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

Exo 32:7

Exo 32:7Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.

Exo 32:8

Exo 32:8They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

Exo 32:9

Exo 32:9“I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people.

Exo 32:10

Exo 32:10Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

Exo 32:11

Exo 32:11But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?

Exo 32:12

Exo 32:12Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.

Exo 32:13

Exo 32:13Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’ ”

Exo 32:14

Exo 32:14Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

Exo 32:15

Exo 32:15Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.

Exo 32:16

Exo 32:16The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

Exo 32:17

Exo 32:17When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”

Exo 32:18

Exo 32:18Moses replied: “It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear.”

Exo 32:19

Exo 32:19When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.

Exo 32:20

Exo 32:20And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

Exo 32:21

Exo 32:21He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”

Exo 32:22

Exo 32:22“Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil.

Exo 32:23

Exo 32:23They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’

Exo 32:24

Exo 32:24So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

Exo 32:25

Exo 32:25Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies.

Exo 32:26

Exo 32:26So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.

Exo 32:27

Exo 32:27Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’ ”

Exo 32:28

Exo 32:28The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.

Exo 32:29

Exo 32:29Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”

Exo 32:30

Exo 32:30The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

Exo 32:31

Exo 32:31So Moses went back to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold.

Exo 32:32

Exo 32:32But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”

Exo 32:33

Exo 32:33The LORD replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book.

Exo 32:34

Exo 32:34Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

Exo 32:35

Exo 32:35And the LORD struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

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NIV Footnotes

(32:1)

Or a god; also in verses 23 and 31

(32:4)

Or This is your god; also in verse 8

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