The Golden Calf
1When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods32:1 Or a god; also in verses 23 and 31 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.”
2Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 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,32:4 Or This is your god; also in verse 8 Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” 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.
7Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 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.’
9“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 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.”
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? 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. 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.’ ” 14Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
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. 16The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
17When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”
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.”
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. 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.
21He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
22“Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 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.’ 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!”
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. 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.
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.’ ” 28The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. 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.”
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.”
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. 32But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”
33The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 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.”
35And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
金牛犢
1百姓見摩西遲遲沒有下山，就聚集到亞倫那裡，對他說：「帶我們出埃及的那個摩西不知怎樣了，你給我們造神像來帶領我們吧。」 2亞倫對他們說：「你們去摘下妻子、兒女的金耳環，拿來給我。」 3百姓就都摘下金耳環交給亞倫。 4亞倫接過這些金耳環，用它們鑄造了一頭牛犢。他們說：「以色列人啊，這就是帶你們出埃及的神明。」 5亞倫見狀便在牛犢前面築了一座壇，然後宣告說：「明天是耶和華定的節期。」 6第二天清晨，百姓都上前來獻燔祭和平安祭，獻完祭後就坐下吃喝，起來狂歡。
7耶和華對摩西說：「你下山吧，你的百姓，就是你從埃及領出來的那些人已經敗壞了。 8他們這麼快就偏離了我吩咐他們走的道路，為自己造了一頭牛犢來叩拜獻祭，說，『以色列人啊，這就是帶你們出埃及的神明。』」 9耶和華又說：「我看到了，這些百姓真是頑固不化。 10你不要阻止我，我要向他們發烈怒，毀滅他們。我要使你成為大國。」
11摩西懇求他的上帝耶和華說：「耶和華啊，你為什麼要向你的子民發烈怒呢？這些子民是你親自用神蹟和大能從埃及領出來的。 12難道你要讓埃及人議論說你領他們出來是出於惡意，是為了在山野之間殺掉他們，從地上滅絕他們嗎？求你息怒，施憐憫，不要降禍給你的子民。 13求你顧念你的僕人亞伯拉罕、以撒和以色列，你曾憑自己向他們起誓說，『我必使你們的後代像天上的星星那麼多。我應許給你們後代的這整片土地，我必賜給他們作永遠的產業。』」 14耶和華聽了摩西的話，就施憐憫，不把所說的災禍降在百姓身上。
15摩西轉身下山，手裡拿著兩塊約版，約版的正反兩面都有字。 16石版是上帝做的，字是上帝刻的。 17約書亞聽見山下百姓嘈雜的喊叫聲，便對摩西說：「營地裡有打仗的聲音。」 18摩西對他說：「這不是打勝仗的聲音，也不是打敗仗的聲音，而是歌唱的聲音。」 19摩西走近營地的時候，看見牛犢，又看見百姓在跳舞，心中大怒，便把手上的兩塊石版摔碎在山腳下， 20又焚燒他們鑄造的牛犢，把它磨成粉末撒在水面上，叫以色列百姓喝。 21摩西對亞倫說：「這些百姓對你做了什麼？你竟使他們陷入大罪中！」 22亞倫回答說：「求我主不要動怒，你知道這些人專門作惡。 23他們對我說，『為我們造神明來帶領我們吧，因為帶我們出埃及的那個摩西不知怎樣了。』 24於是，我吩咐他們摘下金耳環給我，我把這些金耳環扔進火裡，這頭牛犢就出來了。」
25摩西見百姓放肆，亞倫縱容他們，使他們成為敵人的笑柄， 26便站在營門口對會眾說：「凡跟從耶和華的，都站到我這邊來。」所有的利未人都聚集到摩西身邊。 27摩西對他們說：「以色列的上帝耶和華這樣說，『你們各人帶著刀，從這個門到那個門，走遍整個營，不論遇見的是兄弟、夥伴還是鄰居，只管殺他們。』」 28利未人便照摩西的話去做。那一天，約有三千人被殺。 29摩西對利未人說：「今天你們已經把自己奉獻給耶和華了，因為你們大義滅親，祂今天必賜福給你們。」
30第二天，摩西對百姓說：「你們犯了大罪，我現在要到耶和華那裡，也許可以為你們贖罪。」 31摩西回到耶和華那裡，說：「唉，百姓犯了大罪，用金子為自己造了神像。 32懇求你赦免他們的罪，不然請你從你的冊子上抹掉我的名字吧。」 33耶和華對摩西說：「誰得罪我，我就從我的冊子上抹掉誰的名字。 34你現在回去帶領這些百姓，往我指示你的地方去，我的天使必在你前面引路。只是到我懲罰的日子，我必因他們的罪懲罰他們。」
35耶和華擊殺百姓，是因為他們曾與亞倫一起造牛犢。
