150-151 : Moses Destroys The Golden Calf
He took the calf which they ,had made and burned it in the fire,
and ground it to powder and sprinkled it upon the water, and made the people of Israel drink it.
And Moses said to Aaron: "What did the people do to you that made you lead them into such great
wrongdoing?"
"Do not be angry," Aaron said.
"You know the people, and how they are set on mischief.'They said to me, 'Make us gods which shall go before us, for we do not know what has become of Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt.' And I said to them, 'Let those who have gold break it off.'
So they gave it to me. Then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf."
, And on the following day Moses said to the people:
"You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord.
Perhaps I can obtain forgiveness from him for the sin you have committed."
And Moses returned to the Lord and said:
"Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made gods of gold.
Yet, will you forgive their sin ? If not, I beg you to blot me entirely out of your book."
"Whoever has sinned against me, him I blot out of my book," the Lord answered. "So go now, lead the people to the place I have told you of. My angel shall go before you. The time shall come when I shall punish the people for their sin."
THE LORD'S PUNISHMENT
And the Lord punished the people with a plague, because they had made the calf with Aaron.
And God spoke to Moses, saying: "Depart, you and the people you have led up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land which I promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob for their children.
I will send an angel before you to a land flowing with milk and honey.
But I will not go with You myself, because you are a stubborn people."
When the people heard these words, they mourned. And not a man of them wore his ornaments.
And Moses took the holy tent and pitched it outside the camp, some way off,
and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation.
And whenever Moses went out into the tabernacle,
all the people rose up and stood at their tent doors and followed Moses with their eyes until he was gone inside.
Then the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the tabernacle door.
The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.
And when Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua remained each time in the tabernacle.
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