The Daily Audio Bible

The Gold Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses was staying a long time before coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron, and said, “Come, make a god for us who will go in front of us. For we do not know what has become of Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt.” ² Aaron said to them, “Take the objects of gold from the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took the gold objects from their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took the gold from their hands, worked on it with a sharp tool, and by melting it, made it into a calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” ⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it. Aaron said to all the people, “Tomorrow will be a special supper to the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day they got up early and gave burnt gifts and peace gifts. The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play.

⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down. For your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have turned to sin. ⁸ They have been quick to turn aside from the way I have told them. They have melted gold and made a calf for themselves. They have worshiped it, have given gifts to it, and have said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” ⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and see, they are a strong-willed people. ¹⁰ Now let Me alone, so My anger may be against them and I may destroy them. But I will make you into a great nation.”

¹¹ Then Moses begged the Lord his God, saying, “O Lord, why are you very angry against Your people whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the earth’? Turn from Your anger and change Your mind about destroying Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, who were your servants. You promised them by Yourself, saying, ‘I will make your children become as many as the stars of the heavens. And I will give all this land I have spoken about to your children. It will be theirs forever.’” ¹⁴ So the Lord changed His mind about the things He said He would do to His people.

¹⁵ Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two stone writings of the Law in his hand. The stones were written on both sides, on one side and the other. ¹⁶ The stone writings were God’s work. The writing was God’s writing cut into the stones. ¹⁷ When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they made noise, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war at the tents.” ¹⁸ But Moses said, “It is not the sound of winning, or the sound of losing. It is the sound of singing I hear.” ¹⁹ As soon as Moses came near the tents, he saw the calf and the dancing. Moses became very angry. He threw the stone writings from his hands and broke them at the base of the mountain. ²⁰ And he took the calf they had made and burned it with fire, ground it to dust, spread it over the top of the water, and made the people of Israel drink it.

²¹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you to make you bring such great sin upon them?” ²² Aaron said, “Do not let my lord be angry. You know the people yourself and how sinful they are.

²³ They said to me, ‘Make a god for us who will go in front of us. For we do not know what has become of Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt.’ ²⁴ And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off.’ So they gave it to me. I threw it into the fire and out came this calf.”

²⁵ Moses saw that Aaron had let the people go wild and become a shame to those who hated them. ²⁶ So Moses stood in the gate of the place where they had set up their tents and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi came together around him. ²⁷ He said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh. And go from one end of the tents to the other, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” ²⁸ So the sons of Levi did as Moses said. About 3,000 men fell that day. ²⁹ Then Moses said, “Today you have set yourselves apart for the Lord. For each man has been against his son and against his brother, so the Lord may bring good to you today.”

³⁰ The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned. Now I am going up to the Lord. It might be that I can have your sin forgiven.” ³¹ Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O, this people have sinned. They have made a god of gold for themselves. ³² But now, if You will, forgive their sin. If not, then take my name out of Your book which You have written.” ³³ The Lord said to Moses, “I will put out of My book whoever has sinned against Me. ³⁴ But go now. Lead the people where I told you. See, My angel will go before you. But in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” ³⁵ Then the Lord sent trouble upon the people, because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

Israel Leaves Mount Sinai

33 The Lord said to Moses, “Go away from this place, you and the people you have brought out of the land of Egypt. Go to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your children.’ ² I will send an angel before you. And I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ³ Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a strong-willed people and I might destroy you on the way.” ⁴ When the people heard this bad news, they were filled with sorrow. None of them wore his objects of gold or silver. ⁵ For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a strong-willed people. If I go with you even for just a little time, I would destroy you. So take off your objects of gold and silver that I may know what to do with you.’” ⁶ So the people of Israel took off all their objects of gold and silver at Mount Horeb.

Moses Meets with the Lord

⁷ Now Moses used to take the tent and set it up far away from the other tents. He called it the meeting tent. Anyone who wanted to meet with the Lord would go away from the other tents to the meeting tent. ⁸ When Moses went out to the tent, all the people would get up and stand at the doors of their tents. And they would watch Moses until he went into the meeting tent. ⁹ Whenever Moses went into the meeting tent, the cloud would come down and stand at the door of the tent. And the Lord would speak with Moses. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the cloud standing at the door of the meeting tent, they would stand up and worship, each at his tent door. ¹¹ The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the other tents, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not leave the meeting tent.

God’s Promise to Be with His People

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Lead this people!’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You said, ‘I have known you by name. You have found favor in My eyes.’ ¹³ So I pray to You, if I have found favor in Your eyes, let me know Your ways. Then I may know You and find favor in Your eyes. And keep in mind that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴ The Lord said, “I Myself will go with you. I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ Then Moses said to Him, “If You Yourself do not go with us, do not have us leave this place. ¹⁶ For how will it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your eyes, unless You go with us? Then I and Your people will be different from all the other people on the earth.”

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “I will do what you have said. For you have found favor in My eyes, and I have known you by name.” ¹⁸ Moses said, “I pray to You, show me Your shining-greatness!” ¹⁹ And God said, “I will have My goodness pass in front of you. I will make the name of the Lord known in front of you. I will have loving-kindness and loving-pity for anyone I want to.” ²⁰ But He said, “You cannot see My face. For no man can see Me and live!” ²¹ Then the Lord said, “See, there is a place beside Me. You stand there on the rock. ²² While My shining-greatness is passing by, I will put you in the large crack of the rock. And I will cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you will see My back. But My face will not be seen.”

Peter Said He Did Not Know Jesus ^(A)

⁶⁹ Peter sat outside in the yard. A young servant-girl came to him. She said, “You were also with Jesus Who is from the country of Galilee!” ⁷⁰ But Peter lied in front of all of them, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.” ⁷¹ After he had gone out, another young servant-girl saw him. She said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” ⁷² Again he lied and swore, “I do not know this Man!” ⁷³ After a little while some of the people standing around came up to Peter and said, “For sure, you are one of them. You talk like they do.” ⁷⁴ Then he began to say bad words and swear. He said, “I do not know the Man!” At once a rooster crowed.

⁷⁵ Peter remembered the words Jesus had said to him, “Before a rooster crows, you will say three times you do not know Me.” Peter went outside and cried with loud cries.

Jesus Stands in Front of Pilate ^(B)

27 Early in the morning all the head religious leaders of the Jews and the leaders of the people gathered together and talked about how they could put Jesus to death. ² They tied Him and took Him away. Then they handed Him over to Pilate who was the leader of the country.

³ Then Judas was sorry he had handed Jesus over when he saw that Jesus was going to be killed. He took back the thirty pieces of silver and gave it to the head religious leaders and the other leaders. ⁴ He said, “I have sinned because I handed over a Man Who has done no wrong.” And they said, “What is that to us? That is your own doing.” ⁵ He threw the money down in the house of God and went outside. Then he went away and killed himself by hanging from a rope.

⁶ The head religious leaders took the money. They said, “It is against the Law to put this money in the house of God. This money has bought blood.” ⁷ They talked about what to do with the money. Then they decided to buy land to bury strangers in. ⁸ Because of this, that land is called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹ It happened as the early preacher Jeremiah said it would happen. He said, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver which was the price the Jews said they would pay for Him. ¹⁰ And they bought land to bury strangers in, as the Lord told me.” ^(C)

¹¹ Then Jesus stood in front of the leader of the country. The leader asked Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus said to him, “What you say is true.” ¹² When the head religious leaders and the other leaders spoke against Him, He said nothing. ¹³ Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear all these things they are saying against You?” ¹⁴ Jesus did not say a word. The leader was much surprised and wondered about it.

Song of Praise

33 Sing for joy in the Lord, you who are right with Him. It is right for the pure in heart to praise Him. ² Give thanks to the Lord with harps. Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings. ³ Sing to Him a new song. Play well with loud sounds of joy. ⁴ For the Word of the Lord is right. He is faithful in all He does. ⁵ He loves what is right and good and what is fair. The earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Lord.

⁶ The heavens were made by the Word of the Lord. All the stars were made by the breath of His mouth. ⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea together as in a bag. He places the waters in store-houses. ⁸ Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the people of the world honor Him. ⁹ For He spoke, and it was done. He spoke with strong words, and it stood strong. ¹⁰ The Lord brings the plans of nations to nothing. He wrecks the plans of the people. ¹¹ The plans of the Lord stand forever. The plans of His heart stand through the future of all people.

³³ Hear my teaching and be wise. Do not turn away from it. ³⁴ Happy is the man who listens to me, watching every day at my gates, waiting beside my doors. ³⁵ For he who finds me finds life, and gets favor from the Lord. ³⁶ But he who misses me hurts himself. All those who hate me love death.”