1. WHEN THE people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, [they] gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, Up, make us gods to 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.
2. So Aaron replied, Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives, your sons, and daughters, and bring them to me.
3. So all the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron.
4. And he received the gold at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it a molten calf; and they said, These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!