1. And when the people saw that Mosheh was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aharon, and said to him, “Arise, make us mighty ones who go before us. For this Mosheh, the man who brought us up out of the land of Mitsrayim, we do not know what has become of him.”
2. And Aharon said to them, “Take off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”
3. “And all the people took off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aharon.
4. And he took this from their hand, and he formed it with an engraving tool, and made a moulded calf. And they said, “This is your mighty one, O Yisra’ĕl, that brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim!”
5. And Aharon saw and built an altar before it. And Aharon called out and said, “Tomorrow is a festival to יהוה.”
6. And they rose early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
7. And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Mitsrayim have corrupted themselves.
8. “They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a moulded calf, and have bowed themselves to it and slaughtered to it, and said, ‘This is your mighty one, O Yisra’ĕl, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim!’ ”
9. And יהוה said to Mosheh, “I have seen this people, and see, it is a stiff-necked people!
10. “And now, let Me alone, that My wrath might burn against them and I consume them and I make of you a great nation.”
11. But Mosheh pleaded with יהוה his Elohim, and said, “יהוה, why does Your wrath burn against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Mitsrayim with great power and with a strong hand?
12. “Why should the Mitsrites speak, and say, ‘For evil He brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from the heat of Your wrath, and relent from this evil to Your people.
13. “Remember Aḇraham, Yitsḥaq, and Yisra’ĕl, Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I increase your seed like the stars of the heavens. And all this land that I have spoken of I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”