32:11 But Moses sought the favor 1 of the Lord his God and said, “O 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? 32:12 Why 2 should the Egyptians say, 3 ‘For evil 4 he led them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy 5 them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger, and relent 6 of this evil against your people. 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, ‘I will multiply your descendants 7 like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken about 8 I will give to your descendants, 9 and they will inherit it forever.’” 32:14 Then the Lord relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people.
32:21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought on them so great a sin?” 32:22 Aaron said, “Do not let your anger burn hot, my lord; 10 you know these people, that they tend to evil. 11 32:23 They 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.’ 32:24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, break it off.’ So they gave it 12 to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.” 13
32:25 Moses saw that the people were running wild, 14 for Aaron had let them get completely out of control, causing derision from their enemies. 15 32:26 So Moses stood at the entrance of the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come 16 to me.” 17 All the Levites gathered around him, 32:27 and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Each man fasten 18 his sword on his side, and go back and forth 19 from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” 20
32:28 The Levites did what Moses ordered, 21 and that day about three thousand men of the people died. 22 32:29 Moses said, “You have been consecrated 23 today for the Lord, for each of you was against his son or against his brother, so he has given a blessing to you today.” 24
32:30 The next day Moses said to the people, 25 “You have committed a very serious sin, 26 but now I will go up to the Lord – perhaps I can make atonement 27 on behalf of your sin.”
32:31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has committed a very serious sin, 28 and they have made for themselves gods of gold. 32:32 But now, if you will forgive their sin…, 29 but if not, wipe me out 30 from your book that you have written.” 31 32:33 The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me – that person I will wipe out of my book. 32:34 So now go, lead the people to the place I have spoken to you about. See, 32 my angel will go before you. But on the day that I punish, I will indeed punish them for their sin.” 33