The people saw that Mosheh was delaying to descend from the mountain, and the people gathered to Aharon and said to him, 'Rise, make for us gods who will go before us, because this Mosheh, the man who brought us up from the land of Mitsrayim, we do not know what has happened to him.'

And Aharon said to them, 'Take off the gold rings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.'

And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aharon.

And he took them from their hand and shaped it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf, and they said, 'These are your gods, Yisra'el, who brought you up from the land of Mitsrayim.'

And Aharon saw, and built an altar before it, and Aharon proclaimed and said, 'A festival to יהוה is tomorrow.'

And they got up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, and the people sat to eat and drink, and rose to revel.

And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, 'Go, descend, because your people whom you brought up from the land of Mitsrayim have corrupted themselves.'

'They have turned aside quickly from the way which I commanded them; they have made for themselves a molten calf, and have bowed down to it, and have sacrificed to it, and have said, 'These are your gods, Yisra'el, who brought you up from the land of Mitsrayim.''

And יהוה said to Mosheh, 'I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.'

'And now, let me alone, and my anger will burn against them, and I will consume them, and I will make you into a great nation.'

And Mosheh pleaded with the face of יהוה his Elohim, and said, 'Why, יהוה, should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out from the land of Mitsrayim with great power and with a strong hand?'

'Why should the Mitsrayim say, 'With evil he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce anger, and relent concerning the evil against your people.'

'Remember Avraham, Yitsḥaq, and Yisra'el, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself, and you spoke to them, 'I will multiply your offspring like the stars of the sky, and all this land which I have said I will give to your offspring, and they will inherit forever.''

And יהוה relented concerning the evil which he said he would do to his people.

And Mosheh turned and descended from the mountain, and the two tablets of the testimony were in his hand; tablets written on their two sides, from this side and from that side they were written.

And the tablets were the work of Elohim, and the writing was the writing of Elohim, engraved on the tablets.

And Yehoshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, and said to Mosheh, 'A sound of war is in the camp.'

And he said, 'It is not the sound of the victors' cry, nor the sound of the defeated's cry; the sound of singing I am hearing.'

And it happened as he approached the camp, and he saw the calf and the dancing, and Mosheh's anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.

And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, and ground it until it was fine, and scattered it on the surface of the water, and made the sons of Yisra'el drink it.

And Mosheh said to Aharon, 'What has this people done to you, that you have brought upon them such a great sin?'

And Aharon said, 'Let not my Adonai's anger burn; you know the people, that they are inclined to evil.'

'And they said to me, 'Make for us gods who will go before us, because this Mosheh, the man who brought us up from the land of Mitsrayim, we do not know what has happened to him.''

'And I said to them, 'Whoever has gold, take it off!' And they gave it to me, and I threw it in the fire, and this calf came out.'

And Mosheh saw that the people were unrestrained, because Aharon had let them run wild to their shame among their enemies.

And Mosheh stood in the entrance of the camp and said, 'Whoever is for יהוה, to me!' And all the sons of Levi gathered to him.

And he said to them, 'Thus says יהוה, the Elohim of Yisra'el: Put each man his sword on his thigh; go and return from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let each man kill his brother, and each man his neighbor, and each man his kinsman.'

And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Mosheh, and about three thousand men fell from the people that day.

And Mosheh said, 'Today you have consecrated yourselves to יהוה, each man against his son and against his brother, so that he may give you a blessing today.'

And it happened the next day, and Mosheh said to the people, 'You have committed a great sin, and now I will go up to יהוה; perhaps I will make atonement for your sin.'

And Mosheh returned to יהוה and said, 'Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made for themselves gods of gold.'

'And now, if you will forgive their sin, and if not, please blot me out from your book which you have written.'

And יהוה said to Mosheh, 'Whoever has sinned against me, him I will blot out from my book.'

'And now, go, lead the people to where I have spoken to you; behold, my angel will go before you, and on the day of my reckoning, I will reckon their sin against them.'

And יהוה struck the people because they had made the calf which Aharon had made.