Down below the mountain, impatience boiled in the hearts of Israel. The people, seeing that Moses tarried long upon Sinai, gathered around Aaron and cried, "Make us gods to go before us! For this Moses—the one who led us out of Egypt—we know not what has become of him."
Aaron yielded. "Bring me your golden earrings," he said. And the people stripped themselves of gold, pouring treasure at his feet. From their offerings he forged a calf of gleaming metal, shaped with a craftsman's tool. And when the idol stood before them, they shouted, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt!"
Aaron built an altar before the calf and proclaimed, "Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord!" At dawn they rose, offering sacrifices, feasting, drinking, and reveling wildly before the lifeless image.
But upon Sinai, the voice of the Lord thundered to Moses: "Go down at once! Your people have corrupted themselves. Already they have turned aside from My commands, bowing to a calf of gold, proclaiming it their god. I have seen their stubborn hearts. Leave Me, that My wrath may blaze and I consume them. Out of you, Moses, I will raise a great nation."
Yet Moses pleaded: "O Lord, why let Your anger burn against those You brought out with mighty power? Why should Egypt say, 'He led them out only to destroy them in the wilderness'? Turn back from Your fierce anger. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel—Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self that their descendants would be as countless as the stars."
And the Lord relented, sparing His people from destruction.
Moses descended the mountain, carrying the two stone tablets—the work of God Himself, engraved front and back with His own hand. Joshua, hearing the uproar, thought it war, but Moses said, "It is not victory, nor defeat—it is singing I hear."
As the camp came into view, Moses beheld the calf and the dancing. Fury consumed him. He hurled the tablets, shattering them at the mountain's foot. He seized the idol, burned it with fire, ground it to dust, scattered the powder into water, and forced the people to drink their shame.
Turning to Aaron, he demanded, "What did these people do, that you led them into such sin?" Aaron faltered: "You know these people—they are bent on evil. They asked me for gods. I told them to give me gold, and I threw it into the fire—and out came this calf!"
But chaos reigned in the camp, for Aaron had let them lose all restraint. Moses stood at the entrance and cried, "Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!" The sons of Levi rallied to him. Then Moses commanded, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Each man, take up your sword. Go through the camp, from one end to another. Strike down brother, friend, and neighbor."
The Levites obeyed, and that day three thousand of those that worshipped the golden calf, fell. Moses declared, "Today you are set apart for the Lord, for you stood against your own kin—and the Lord has blessed you."
The next day, Moses told the people, "You have committed a great sin. I will ascend again to the Lord—perhaps I can make atonement for you." He pleaded, "O Lord, these people have sinned greatly, making gods of gold. Yet forgive them, I pray—or else blot me out of the book You have written."
But the Lord replied, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot out of My book. Go now, lead the people to the land I promised. My angel shall go before you. But when the time comes, I will punish them for their sin."
And the Lord struck them with a plague for the calf Aaron had made.