Exodus 31-33

New American Standard Bible 1995

The Skilled Craftsmen

31 ^(A)Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “See, I have called by name Bezalel, the ^(B)son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³ I have ^(C)filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of ^[a]craftsmanship, ⁴ to ^[b]make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in ^[c]bronze, ⁵ and in the cutting of stones ^[d]for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of ^[e]craftsmanship. ⁶ And behold, I Myself have ^[f]appointed with him ^(D)Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the hearts of all who are ^[g]skillful I have put ^[h]skill, that they may make all that I have commanded you: ^7 (E)the tent of meeting, and ^(F)the ark of testimony, and ^(G)the ^[i]mercy seat upon it, and all the furniture of the tent, ^8 (H)the table also and its ^[j]utensils, and the ^(I)pure gold lampstand with all its ^[k]utensils, and ^(J)the altar of incense, ^9 (K)the altar of burnt offering also with all its ^[l]utensils, and ^(L)the laver and its stand, ¹⁰ the ^[m](M)woven garments as well, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, with which to ^[n]carry on their priesthood; ^11 (N)the anointing oil also, and the ^(O)fragrant incense for the holy place, they are to make them according to all that I have commanded you.”

The Sign of the Sabbath

¹² The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹³ “But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘^(P)You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is ^(Q)a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. ¹⁴ Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. ^(R)Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. ^15 (S)For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a ^(T)sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; ^(U)whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. ¹⁶ So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to ^[o]celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.’ ^17 (V)It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; ^(W)for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.”

¹⁸ When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses ^(X)the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, ^(Y)written by the finger of God.

The Golden Calf

32 Now when the people saw that Moses ^(Z)delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, ^(AA)make us ^[p]a god who will go before us; as for ^(AB)this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ² Aaron said to them, “^(AC)Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a ^(AD)molten calf; and they said, “^[q]This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ⁵ Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day they rose early and ^(AE)offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and ^(AF)the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up ^(AG)to play.

⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go ^[r]down at once, for your people, whom ^(AH)you brought up from the land of Egypt, have ^(AI)corrupted themselves. ⁸ They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. ^(AJ)They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and ^(AK)have sacrificed to it and said, ‘^[s](AL)This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” ^9 (AM)The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are ^[t](AN)an obstinate people. ¹⁰ Now then ^(AO)let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and ^(AP)I will make of you a great nation.”

Moses’ Entreaty

¹¹ Then ^(AQ)Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹² Why should ^(AR)the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You ^(AS)swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will ^(AT)multiply your ^[u]descendants as the stars of the heavens, and ^(AU)all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your ^[v]descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ^14 (AV)So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.

^15 (AW)Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, ^(AX)tablets which were written on both ^[w]sides; they were written on one side and the other. ¹⁶ The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. ¹⁷ Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people ^[x]as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” ¹⁸ But he said,

Moses’ Anger

¹⁹ It came about, as soon as ^[y]Moses came near the camp, that ^(AY)he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and ^(AZ)he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them ^[z]at the foot of the mountain. ^20 (BA)He took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.

²¹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?” ²² Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, ^(BB)that they are ^[aa]prone to evil. ²³ For ^(BC)they said to me, ‘Make ^[ab]a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ²⁴ I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ So they gave it to me, and ^(BD)I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

²⁵ Now when Moses saw that the people were ^[ac]out of control—for Aaron had ^(BE)let them ^[ad]get out of control to be a derision among ^[ae]their enemies— ²⁶ then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. ²⁷ He said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his ^[af]neighbor.’” ²⁸ So ^(BF)the sons of Levi did ^[ag]as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. ²⁹ Then Moses said, “^[ah]Dedicate yourselves today to the Lord—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.”

³⁰ On the next day Moses said to the people, “^(BG)You yourselves have ^[ai]committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the Lord, perhaps I can ^(BH)make atonement for your sin.” ³¹ Then Moses returned to the Lord, and said, “Alas, this people has ^[aj]committed a great sin, and they have made ^[ak]a ^(BI)god of gold for themselves. ³² But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your ^(BJ)book which You have written!” ³³ The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, ^(BK)I will blot him out of My book. ³⁴ But go now, lead the people ^(BL)where I told you. Behold, ^(BM)My angel shall go before you; nevertheless ^(BN)in the day when I ^[al]punish, ^(BO)I will ^[am]punish them for their sin.” ^35 (BP)Then the Lord smote the people, because of ^(BQ)what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.

The Journey Resumed

33 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which ^(BR)I swore to Abraham, ^(BS)Isaac, and ^(BT)Jacob, saying, ‘^(BU)To your ^[an]descendants I will give it.’ ² I will send ^(BV)an angel before you and ^(BW)I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. ³ Go up to a land ^(BX)flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are ^[ao](BY)an obstinate people, and ^(BZ)I might destroy you on the way.”

⁴ When the people heard this ^[ap]sad word, ^(CA)they went into mourning, and none of them put on his ornaments. ⁵ For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are ^[aq](CB)an obstinate people; should I go up in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you. Now therefore, put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what I shall do with you.’” ⁶ So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

⁷ Now Moses used to take ^(CC)the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And ^(CD)everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp. ⁸ And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹ Whenever Moses entered the tent, ^(CE)the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; ^(CF)and ^[ar]the Lord would speak with Moses. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of his tent. ¹¹ Thus ^(CG)the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When ^[as]Moses returned to the camp, ^(CH)his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Moses Intercedes

¹² Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘^(CI)Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know ^(CJ)whom You will send with me. ^(CK)Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ ¹³ Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, ^(CL)let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. ^(CM)Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴ And He said, “^(CN)My presence shall go with you, and ^(CO)I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ Then he said to Him, “^(CP)If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. ¹⁶ For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that ^(CQ)we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the ^[at]earth?”

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; ^(CR)for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” ^18 (CS)Then ^[au]Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” ¹⁹ And He said, “^(CT)I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and ^(CU)I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” ²⁰ But He said, “You cannot see My face, ^(CV)for no man can see Me and live!” ²¹ Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place ^[av]by Me, and ^(CW)you shall stand there on the rock; ²² and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and ^(CX)cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but ^(CY)My face shall not be seen.”