Exodus 32:15-21

Good News Translation

¹⁵ Moses went back down the mountain, carrying the two stone tablets with the commandments written on both sides. ¹⁶ God himself had made the tablets and had engraved the commandments on them.

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

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

¹⁹ When 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. ²⁰ He 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. ²¹ He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you have made them commit such a terrible sin?”