9. Then the lord said, “I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are.
10. Now leave me alone so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation.”
11. But Moses tried to pacify the lord his God. “O lord!” he said. “Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and such a strong hand?
12. Why let the Egyptians say, ‘Their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you have threatened against your people!
13. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You bound yourself with an oath to them, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. And I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.’”
14. So the lord changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people.
15. Then Moses turned and went down the mountain. He held in his hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.
16. These tablets were God’s work; the words on them were written by God himself.
17. When Joshua heard the boisterous noise of the people shouting below them, he exclaimed to Moses, “It sounds like war in the camp!”
18. But Moses replied, “No, it’s not a shout of victory nor the wailing of defeat. I hear the sound of a celebration.”
19. When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and he burned with anger. He threw the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain.
20. He took the calf they had made and burned it. Then he ground it into powder, threw it into the water, and forced the people to drink it.
21. Finally, he turned to Aaron and demanded, “What did these people do to you to make you bring such terrible sin upon them?”
22. “Don’t get so upset, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know how evil these people are.
23. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.’
24. So I told them, ‘Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off.’ When they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire—and out came this calf!”
25. Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get completely out of control, much to the amusement of their enemies.