And Moses and Joshua his minister went up into the mount of God. And
Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights. And when the people
saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered
themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, "Up, make us gods,
which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us
up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him."
And Aaron said unto them, "Break off the golden rings, which are in the
ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them
unto me."
And all the people brake off the golden rings which were in their ears,
and brought them unto Aaron. And he received it at their hand, and
fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf: and they
said, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the
land of Egypt."
And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made
proclamation, and said, "To-morrow shall be a feast to the Lord."
And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and
brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink,
and rose up to play.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, "Go, get thee down; for thy people, which
thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them:
they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have
sacrificed unto it."
And Moses turned and went down from the mount with the two tables in his
hand. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he
said unto Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp."
And he said, "It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery,
neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the
noise of them that sing do I hear."
And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw
the calf and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the
tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took
the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to
powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel
drink of it.