¹ Kui rahvas nägi, et Mooses viivitas mäelt tulekuga, siis rahvas kogunes Aaroni ümber ja ütles temale: 'Võta kätte ja tee meile jumalaid, kes käiksid meie ees, sest me ei tea, mis on juhtunud Moosesega, selle mehega, kes tõi meid Egiptusemaalt välja!'

² Siis Aaron ütles neile: 'Rebige ära kuldrõngad, mis on kõrvus teie naistel, poegadel ja tütardel, ja tooge need mulle!'

³ Ja kogu rahvas rebis ära kuldrõngad, mis neil kõrvus olid, ja tõi need Aaronile.

⁴ Tema võttis need vastu nende käest, töötles lõikeriistaga ja valmistas valatud vasika. Siis nad ütlesid: 'See on su jumal, Iisrael, kes tõi sind Egiptusemaalt välja!'

⁵ Kui Aaron seda nägi, siis ta ehitas selle ette altari; ja Aaron hüüdis ning ütles: 'Homme on Issanda püha!'

⁶ Järgmisel päeval tõusid nad vara ning ohverdasid põletusohvreid ja tõid tänuohvreid; ja rahvas istus maha sööma ja jooma ning tõusis üles mängima.

⁷ Siis Issand rääkis Moosesega: 'Mine astu alla, sest su rahvas, kelle sa tõid Egiptusemaalt välja, on teinud pahasti!

⁸ Nad on kähku pöördunud teelt, mida ma neil käskisin käia. Nad on enestele teinud valatud vasika. Nad on seda kummardanud ja sellele ohverdanud, ja nad on öelnud: See on su jumal, Iisrael, kes tõi sind Egiptusemaalt välja.'

⁹ Ja Issand ütles Moosesele: 'Ma olen näinud seda rahvast, ja vaata, see on kangekaelne rahvas.

¹⁰ Jäta nüüd mind üksi, et mu viha saaks süttida põlema nende vastu ja ma saaksin nad hävitada! Aga sind ma teen suureks rahvaks.'

¹¹ Mooses aga anus Issanda, oma Jumala ees ja ütles: 'Issand, miks süttib su viha põlema oma rahva vastu, kelle sa tõid Egiptusemaalt välja oma suure võimsuse ja vägeva käega?

¹² Miks peaksid egiptlased rääkima ja ütlema: Kurja kavatsusega viis ta nad välja, et neid mägedes tappa ja maa pealt hävitada. Pöördu oma tulisest vihast ja kahetse kurja, mida sa kavatsed teha oma rahvale!

¹³ Meenuta oma sulaseid Aabrahami, Iisakit ja Iisraeli, kellele sa oled iseenese juures vandunud ja öelnud: Ma teen teie soo nõnda paljuks nagu tähti taevas; ja kogu selle maa, millest ma olen rääkinud, annan ma teie soole ja nad pärivad selle igaveseks.'

¹⁴ Ja Issand kahetses kurja, mida ta oli ähvardanud teha oma rahvale.

¹⁵ Ja Mooses pöördus ning astus mäelt alla, ja tal oli käes kaks tunnistuslauda, lauad, mille mõlema poole peale oli kirjutatud; neile oli kirjutatud nii ühe kui teise külje peale.

¹⁶ Lauad olid Jumala tehtud ja Jumala kirjutatud oli kiri, mis laudadesse oli uurendatud.

¹⁷ Kui Joosua kuulis rahva häält, valju karjumist, siis ta ütles Moosesele: 'Leeris on sõjakisa!'

¹⁸ Aga tema vastas: 'Ei see ole võiduhüüd, ei see ole kaotusekisa - mina kuulen lauluhäält.'

¹⁹ Ja kui Mooses ligines leerile ja nägi vasikat ning ringtantsu, siis ta viha süttis põlema ja ta viskas lauad käest ning purustas need mäejalamil.

²⁰ Seejärel ta võttis vasika, mille nad olid teinud, ja põletas seda tules ning jahvatas, kuni see sai peeneks; siis ta puistas selle vette ja andis Iisraeli lastele juua.

²¹ Ja Mooses ütles Aaronile: 'Mida see rahvas sulle on teinud, et sa oled nende peale toonud nii suure patu?'

²² Aaron vastas: 'Ärgu süttigu mu isanda viha põlema! Sina ise tead, et see rahvas on paha.

²³ Nad ütlesid mulle: Tee meile jumalad, kes käiksid meie ees, sest me ei tea, mis on juhtunud Moosesega, selle mehega, kes tõi meid Egiptusemaalt välja!

²⁴ Ja mina ütlesin neile: Kellel on kulda, rebigu ära! Ja nad andsid selle minule, mina viskasin tulle ja välja tuli see vasikas.'

²⁵ Kui Mooses nägi, et rahvas oli ohjest valla, sest Aaron oli ta valla päästnud kahjurõõmuks nende vaenlastele,

²⁶ siis Mooses astus leeri väravasse ja ütles: 'Kes on Issanda poolt, tulgu minu juurde!' Ja tema juurde kogunesid kõik Leevi pojad.

²⁷ Ja ta ütles neile: 'Nõnda ütleb Issand, Iisraeli Jumal: Igaüks pangu oma mõõk vööle! Käige edasi ja tagasi leeri väravast väravani ja tapke igaüks, olgu see ka oma vend, sõber või sugulane!'

²⁸ Ja Leevi pojad tegid, nagu Mooses käskis; ja sel päeval langes rahva seast ligi kolm tuhat meest.

²⁹ Ja Mooses ütles: 'Nad täitsid täna oma käed Issandale, sest igaüks oli oma poja ja venna vastu, selleks et teile täna õnnistus antaks!'

³⁰ Ja järgmisel päeval ütles Mooses rahvale: 'Te olete teinud väga suurt pattu. Aga ma lähen nüüd üles Issanda juurde, vahest saan lepitada teie patu.'

³¹ Ja Mooses läks jälle Issanda juurde ning ütles: 'Oh häda! See rahvas on teinud suurt pattu ja on enesele valmistanud kuldjumalad.

³² Kui sa nüüd siiski annaksid andeks nende patu! Aga kui mitte, siis kustuta mind oma raamatust, mille oled kirjutanud!'

³³ Aga Issand vastas Moosesele: 'Kes minu vastu on pattu teinud, selle ma kustutan oma raamatust.

³⁴ Nüüd aga mine, juhi rahvas sinna paika, millest ma sulle olen rääkinud! Vaata, minu ingel käib su eel. Oma karistuspäeval ma karistan neid nende patu pärast.'

³⁵ Ja Issand lõi rahvast, sellepärast et nad olid teinud vasika, mille Aaron valmistas.

¹ When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him."

² Aaron said to them, "Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me."

³ All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.

⁴ He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said, "These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt."

⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh."

⁶ They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

⁷ Yahweh spoke to Moses, "Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!

⁸ They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.'"

⁹ Yahweh said to Moses, "I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.

¹⁰ Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation."

¹¹ Moses begged Yahweh his God, and said, "Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

¹² Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, 'He brought them forth for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?' Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people.

¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.'"

¹⁴ Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.

¹⁵ Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other they were written.

¹⁶ The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tables.

¹⁷ When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is the noise of war in the camp."

¹⁸ He said, "It isn't the voice of those who shout for victory, neither is it the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing that I hear."

¹⁹ It happened, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing: and Moses' anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain.

²⁰ He took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

²¹ Moses said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?"

²² Aaron said, "Don't let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.

²³ For they said to me, 'Make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him.'

²⁴ I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let them take it off:' so they gave it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf."

²⁵ When Moses saw that the people had broken loose, (for Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies),

²⁶ then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, "Whoever is on Yahweh's side, come to me!" All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.

²⁷ He said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.'"

²⁸ The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

²⁹ Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, yes, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may bestow on you a blessing this day."

³⁰ It happened on the next day, that Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin."

³¹ Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, "Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold.

³² Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin--and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written."

³³ Yahweh said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

³⁴ Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin."

³⁵ Yahweh struck the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.