The Gold Bull-Calf

¹When the people saw that Moses had not come down from the mountain but was staying there a long time, they gathered around 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.”

²Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold earrings which your wives, your sons, and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”

³So all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.

⁴He took the earrings, melted them, poured the gold into a mold, and made a gold bull-calf. The people said, “Israel, this is our god, who led us out of Egypt!”

⁵Then Aaron built an altar in front of the gold bull-calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to honor the Lord.”

⁶Early 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.

⁷The Lord said to Moses, “Hurry and go back down, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have sinned and rejected me.

⁸They have already left the way that I commanded them to follow; they have made a bull-calf out of melted gold and have worshiped it and offered sacrifices to it. They are saying that this is their god, who led them out of Egypt.

⁹I know how stubborn these people are.

¹⁰Now, 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.”

¹¹But 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?

¹²Why should the Egyptians be able to say that you led your people out of Egypt, planning to kill them in the mountains and destroy them completely? Stop being angry; change your mind and do not bring this disaster on your people.

¹³Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Remember the solemn promise you made to them to give them as many descendants as there are stars in the sky and to give their descendants all that land you promised would be their possession forever.”

¹⁴So the Lord changed his mind and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

¹⁵Moses went back down the mountain, carrying the two stone tablets with the commandments written on both sides.

¹⁶God himself had made the tablets and had engraved the commandments on them.

¹⁷Joshua heard the people shouting and said to Moses, “I hear the sound of battle in the camp.”

¹⁸Moses said, “That doesn't sound like a shout of victory or a cry of defeat; it's the sound of singing.”

¹⁹When Moses came close enough to the camp to see the bull-calf and to see the people dancing, he became furious. There at the foot of the mountain, he threw down the tablets he was carrying and broke them.

²⁰He took the bull-calf which they had made, melted it, ground it into fine powder, and mixed it with water. Then he made the people of Israel drink it.

²¹He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you have made them commit such a terrible sin?”

²²Aaron answered, “Don't be angry with me; you know how determined these people are to do evil.

²³They said to me, ‘We don't know what has happened to this man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt; so make us a god to lead us.’

²⁴I asked them to bring me their gold ornaments, and those who had any took them off and gave them to me. I threw the ornaments into the fire and out came this bull-calf!”

²⁵Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get out of control and make fools of themselves in front of their enemies.

²⁶So he stood at the gate of the camp and shouted, “Everyone who is on the Lord's side come over here!” So all the Levites gathered around him,

²⁷and he said to them, “The Lord God of Israel commands every one of you to put on your sword and go through the camp from this gate to the other and kill your brothers, your friends, and your neighbors.”

²⁸The Levites obeyed, and killed about three thousand men that day.

²⁹Moses said to the Levites, “Today you have consecrated yourselves as priests in the service of the Lord by killing your sons and brothers, so the Lord has given you his blessing.”

³⁰The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a terrible sin. But now I will again go up the mountain to the Lord; perhaps I can obtain forgiveness for your sin.”

³¹Moses then returned to the Lord and said, “These people have committed a terrible sin. They have made a god out of gold and worshiped it.

³²Please forgive their sin; but if you won't, then remove my name from the book in which you have written the names of your people.”

³³The Lord answered, “It is those who have sinned against me whose names I will remove from my book.

³⁴Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about. Remember that my angel will guide you, but the time is coming when I will punish these people for their sin.”

³⁵So the Lord sent a disease on the people, because they had caused Aaron to make the gold bull-calf.

The Religious Festivals

¹The Lord gave Moses

²the following regulations for the religious festivals, when the people of Israel are to gather for worship.

³You have six days in which to do your work, but remember that the seventh day, the Sabbath, is a day of rest. On that day do not work, but gather for worship. The Sabbath belongs to the Lord, no matter where you live.

⁴Proclaim the following festivals at the appointed times.

Passover and Unleavened Bread

⁵The Passover, celebrated to honor the Lord, begins at sunset on the fourteenth day of the first month.

⁶On the fifteenth day the Festival of Unleavened Bread begins, and for seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast.

⁷On the first of these days you shall gather for worship and do none of your daily work.

⁸Offer your food offerings to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day you shall again gather for worship, but you shall do none of your daily work.

^9-10When you come into the land that the Lord is giving you and you harvest your grain, take the first sheaf to the priest.

¹¹He shall present it as a special offering to the Lord, so that you may be accepted. The priest shall present it the day after the Sabbath.

¹²On the day you present the offering of grain, also sacrifice as a burnt offering a one-year-old male lamb that has no defects.

¹³With it you shall present four pounds of flour mixed with olive oil as a food offering. The odor of this offering is pleasing to the Lord. You shall also present with it an offering of one quart of wine.

¹⁴Do not eat any of the new grain, whether raw, roasted, or baked into bread, until you have brought this offering to God. This regulation is to be observed by all your descendants for all time to come.

The Harvest Festival

¹⁵Count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath on which you bring your sheaf of grain to present to the Lord.

¹⁶On the fiftieth day, the day after the seventh Sabbath, present to the Lord another new offering of grain.

¹⁷Each family is to bring two loaves of bread and present them to the Lord as a special gift. Each loaf shall be made of four pounds of flour baked with yeast and shall be presented to the Lord as an offering of the first grain to be harvested.

¹⁸And with the bread the community is to present seven one-year-old lambs, one bull, and two rams, none of which may have any defects. They shall be offered as a burnt offering to the Lord, along with a grain offering and a wine offering. The odor of this offering is pleasing to the Lord.

¹⁹Also offer one male goat as a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering.

²⁰The priest shall present the bread with the two lambs as a special gift to the Lord for the priests. These offerings are holy.

²¹On that day do none of your daily work, but gather for worship. Your descendants are to observe this regulation for all time to come, no matter where they live.

²²When you harvest your fields, do not cut the grain at the edges of the fields, and do not go back to cut the heads of grain that were left; leave them for poor people and foreigners. The Lord is your God.

The New Year Festival

^23-24On the first day of the seventh month observe a special day of rest, and come together for worship when the trumpets sound.

²⁵Present a food offering to the Lord and do none of your daily work.

The Day of Atonement

^26-27The tenth day of the seventh month is the day when the annual ritual is to be performed to take away the sins of the people. On that day do not eat anything at all; come together for worship, and present a food offering to the Lord.

²⁸Do no work on that day, because it is the day for performing the ritual to take away sin.

²⁹Any who eat anything on that day will no longer be considered God's people.

³⁰And if any do any work on that day, the Lord himself will put them to death.

³¹This regulation applies to all your descendants, no matter where they live.

³²From sunset on the ninth day of the month to sunset on the tenth observe this day as a special day of rest, during which nothing may be eaten.

The Festival of Shelters

^33-34The Festival of Shelters begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and continues for seven days.

³⁵On the first of these days come together for worship and do none of your daily work.

³⁶Each day for seven days you shall present a food offering. On the eighth day come together again for worship and present a food offering. It is a day for worship, and you shall do no work.

³⁷(These are the religious festivals on which you honor the Lord by gathering together for worship and presenting food offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices, and wine offerings, as required day by day.

³⁸These festivals are in addition to the regular Sabbaths, and these offerings are in addition to your regular gifts, your offerings as fulfillment of vows, and your freewill offerings that you give to the Lord.)

³⁹When you have harvested your fields, celebrate this festival for seven days, beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The first day shall be a special day of rest.

⁴⁰On that day take some of the best fruit from your trees, take palm branches and limbs from leafy trees, and begin a religious festival to honor the Lord your God.

⁴¹Celebrate it for seven days. This regulation is to be kept by your descendants for all time to come.

⁴²All the people of Israel shall live in shelters for seven days,

⁴³so that your descendants may know that the Lord made the people of Israel live in simple shelters when he led them out of Egypt. He is the Lord your God.

⁴⁴So in this way Moses gave the people of Israel the regulations for observing the religious festivals to honor the Lord.

A Prayer for the Nation's Restoration

¹Listen to us, O Shepherd of Israel; hear us, leader of your flock. Seated on your throne above the winged creatures,

²reveal yourself to the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Show us your strength; come and save us!

³Bring us back, O God! Show us your mercy, and we will be saved!

⁴How much longer, Lord God Almighty, will you be angry with your people's prayers?

⁵You have given us sorrow to eat, a large cup of tears to drink.

⁶You let the surrounding nations fight over our land; our enemies insult us.

⁷Bring us back, Almighty God! Show us your mercy, and we will be saved!

⁸You brought a grapevine out of Egypt; you drove out other nations and planted it in their land.

⁹You cleared a place for it to grow; its roots went deep, and it spread out over the whole land.

¹⁰It covered the hills with its shade; its branches overshadowed the giant cedars.

¹¹It extended its branches to the Mediterranean Sea and as far as the Euphrates River.

¹²Why did you break down the fences around it? Now anyone passing by can steal its grapes;

¹³wild hogs trample it down, and wild animals feed on it.

¹⁴Turn to us, Almighty God! Look down from heaven at us; come and save your people!

¹⁵Come and save this grapevine that you planted, this young vine you made grow so strong!

¹⁶Our enemies have set it on fire and cut it down; look at them in anger and destroy them!

¹⁷Preserve and protect the people you have chosen, the nation you made so strong.

¹⁸We will never turn away from you again; keep us alive, and we will praise you.

¹⁹Bring us back, Lord God Almighty. Show us your mercy, and we will be saved.