22. Aaron replied, "Don’t get angry with me, sir. You know yourself that these people are out of control.
23. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who can lead us. As for this man Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t have a clue what has happened to him.’
24. So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off!’ So they gave it to me, I threw it into the fire, and out came this bull calf!"
25. Moses saw that the people were out of control because Aaron had let them get out of control, making them an easy target for their enemies.
26. So Moses stood at the camp’s gate and said, "Whoever is on the Lord’s side, come to me!" All the Levites gathered around him.
27. Moses said to them, "This is what the Lord, Israel’s God, says: Each of you, strap on your sword! Go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. Each of you, kill your brother, your friend, and your neighbor!"
28. The Levites did as Moses commanded. About three thousand people were killed that day.
29. Moses said, "Today you’ve been ordained to the Lord, each one of you at the cost of a son or a brother. Today you’ve gained a special blessing for yourselves."
30. The next day Moses said to the people, "You’ve committed a terrible sin. So now I will go up to the Lord. Maybe I can arrange reconciliation on account of your sin."
31. So Moses went back to the Lord and said, "Oh, what a terrible sin these people have committed! They made for themselves gods of gold.
32. But now, please forgive their sin! And if not, then wipe me out of your scroll that you’ve written."
33. But the Lord said to Moses, "The ones I’ll wipe out of my scroll are those who sinned against me.
34. Now go and lead the people to the place I described to you. My messenger here will go in front of you. When the day of reckoning comes, I’ll count their sin against them."
35. Then the Lord sent a plague on the people because of what they did with the bull calf that Aaron made.