11. But Moses begged the Lord his God, “Lord, don’t let your anger destroy your people. You brought them out of Egypt with your great power and strength.
12. But if you destroy your people, the Egyptians will say, ‘God planned to do bad things to his people. That is why he led them out of Egypt. He wanted to kill them in the mountains. He wanted to wipe them off the earth.’ So don’t be angry with your people. Please change your mind! Don’t destroy them.
13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. These men served you, and you used your name to make a promise to them. You said, ‘I will make your people as many as the stars in the sky. I will give your people all this land as I promised. This land will be theirs forever.’”
14. So the Lord felt sorry for the people. He did not do what he said he might do—he did not destroy them.
15. Then Moses went down the mountain. He had the two stone tablets with the agreement on them. The commandments were written on both sides of the stone, front and back.
16. God himself made the stones, and God himself wrote the commandments on them.
17. Joshua heard the noise from the party in camp. He said to Moses, “It sounds like war down in the camp!”
18. Moses answered, “It is not the noise of an army shouting for victory. And it is not the noise of an army crying from defeat. The noise I hear is the sound of music.”
19. When Moses came near the camp, he saw the golden calf and the people dancing. He became very angry, and he threw the stone tablets on the ground. The stones broke into several pieces at the bottom of the mountain.
20. Then Moses destroyed the calf that the people had made. He melted it in the fire. Then he ground the gold until it became dust and threw it into the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink that water.
21. Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you that would make you do this? Why did you lead them to do such a terrible sin?”
22. Aaron answered, “Don’t be angry, sir. You know that these people are always ready to do wrong.
23. The people said to me, ‘Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don’t know what has happened to him. So make us some gods to lead us.’
24. So I told the people, ‘If you have any gold rings, then give them to me.’ The people gave me their gold. I threw the gold into the fire, and out of the fire came this calf!”
25. Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get out of control. They were being wild, and all their enemies could see them acting like fools.
26. So Moses stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Anyone who wants to follow the Lord should come to me.” Everyone from the tribe of Levi ran to Moses.
27. Then Moses said to them, “I will tell you what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every man must get his sword and go from one end of the camp to the other. You men must kill those who are against the Lord, even if they are your brothers, friends, or neighbors.’”