1. When the people saw that Moses had not come down from the mountain but was staying there a long time, they gathered round Aaron and said to him, “We do not know what has happened to this man Moses, who led us out of Egypt; so make us a god to lead us.”
2. Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold earrings which your wives, your sons, and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”
3. So all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.
4. He took the earrings, melted them, poured the gold into a mould, and made a gold bull calf.The people said, “Israel, this is our god, who led us out of Egypt!”
5. Then Aaron built an altar in front of the gold bull calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to honour the Lord.”
6. Early the next morning they brought some animals to burn as sacrifices and others to eat as fellowship offerings. The people sat down to a feast, which turned into an orgy of drinking and sex.
7. The Lord said to Moses, “Go back down at once, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have sinned and rejected me.
8. They have already left the way that I commanded them to follow; they have made a bull calf out of melted gold and have worshipped it and offered sacrifices to it. They are saying that this is their god, who led them out of Egypt.
9. I know how stubborn these people are.
10. Now, don't try to stop me. I am angry with them, and I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you and your descendants into a great nation.”
11. But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God and said, “Lord, why should you be so angry with your people, whom you rescued from Egypt with great might and power?