Exodus 32:1-29

The Golden Calf

1 When the people saw that Moses ¹delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ²"Up, make us gods who shall ³go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."

2 So Aaron said to them, "Take off the ⁴rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."

3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

4 ⁵And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden^[a] calf. And they said, ⁶"These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron ⁷made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD."

6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And ⁸the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up ⁹to play.

7 And the LORD said to Moses, ¹⁰"Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have ¹¹corrupted themselves.

8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that ¹²I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'"

9 And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, ¹³it is a stiff-necked people.

10 Now therefore ¹⁴let me alone, that ¹⁵my wrath may burn hot against them and ¹⁶I may consume them, in order that ¹⁷I may make a great nation of you."

11 But ¹⁸Moses implored the LORD his God and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

12 ¹⁹Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and ²⁰relent from this disaster against your people.

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you ²¹swore by your own self, and said to them, ²²'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'"

14 And the LORD ²³relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

15 Then ²⁴Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the ²⁵two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written.

16 ²⁶The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

17 When ²⁷Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp."

18 But he said, "It is not the sound of ²⁸shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear."

19 And as soon as he came near the camp and ²⁹saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.

20 He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.

21 And Moses said to Aaron, ³⁰"What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?"

22 And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. ³¹You know the people, that they are set on evil.

23 For ³²they said to me, 'Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

24 So ³³I said to them, 'Let any who have gold take it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf."

25 And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, ³⁴to the derision of their enemies),

26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the LORD's side? Come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.

27 And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you ³⁵kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.'"

28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.

29 And Moses said, "Today you have been ³⁶ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day."

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Exodus 32:1-29 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 32

This chapter gives an account of the idolatry of the Israelites making and worshipping a golden calf, Ex 32:1-6 the information of it God gave to Moses, bidding him at the same time not to make any suit in their favour, that he might consume them, and make a large nation out Moses's family, Ex 32:7-10 the intercession of Moses for them, in which he succeeded, Ex 32:11-14 his descent from the mount with the two tables in his hands, accompanied by Joshua, when he was an eyewitness of their idolatry, which raised his indignation, that he cast the two tables out of his hands and broke them, took the calf and burnt it, and ground it to powder, and made the children of Israel drink of it, Ex 32:15-20 the examination of Aaron about the fact, who excused himself, Ex 32:21-24 the orders given to the Levites, who joined themselves to Moses, to slay every man his brother, which they did to the number of 3000 men, Ex 32:25-29 another intercession for them by Moses, which gained a respite of them for a time, for they are threatened to be visited still for their sin, and they were plagued for it, Ex 32:30-35.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 36

1. Exodus 24:18; Deuteronomy 9:9
2. ver. 23; Cited Acts 7:40
3. Exodus 13:21
4. [Exodus 12:35, 36]; See Judges 8:24-27
5. Deuteronomy 9:16; Nehemiah 9:18; Psalms 106:19; Acts 7:41; [Judges 17:3, 4]
6. 1 Kings 12:28
7. [2 Kings 10:20]
8. Cited 1 Corinthians 10:7
9. Genesis 26:8; [Judges 21:21]
10. Deuteronomy 9:12
11. Judges 2:19; [Hosea 9:9]
12. Exodus 20:3, 4, 23; Deuteronomy 9:16
13. Exodus 33:3, 5; Exodus 34:9; Deuteronomy 9:6, 13; Deuteronomy 31:27; 2 Chronicles 30:8; Acts 7:51; [Isaiah 48:4]
14. Deuteronomy 9:14
15. Exodus 22:24
16. Exodus 33:3
17. Numbers 14:12
18. Deut. 9:18, 26-29; Psalms 106:23; [Psalms 74:1, 2]
19. [Deuteronomy 32:27]; See Numbers 14:13-16
20. See ver. 14
21. Genesis 22:16; Hebrews 6:13
22. Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 15:7, 18; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 28:13; Genesis 35:11, 12; Genesis 48:16
23. Psalms 106:45; [1 Chronicles 21:15; Jeremiah 18:8; Jeremiah 26:13, 15, 19; Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:10; Jonah 4:2]
24. Deuteronomy 9:15
25. Exodus 34:29
26. Exodus 31:18
27. Exodus 17:9, 10; Exodus 24:13; Exodus 33:11
28. Jeremiah 51:14
29. Deut. 9:16, 17, 21
30. [Genesis 20:9]
31. [Exodus 14:11; Exodus 15:24; Exodus 16:2, 20; Exodus 17:2, 4; 1 Sam. Exodus 15:24]
32. ver. 1
33. ver. 2-4
34. [ver. 12]
35. [Numbers 25:5; Deuteronomy 33:9]
36. [Zechariah 13:3; Matthew 10:37; Luke 14:26]; See Numbers 25:11-13; Deuteronomy 13:6-10

Footnotes 1

[a]. Hebrew cast metal; also verse 8

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.