the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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JPS Old Testament
Exodus 32:3
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All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aharon.
And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
And all the people took off the rings of gold that were on their ears and brought it to Aaron.
So all the people took their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.
So all the people broke off the gold earrings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.
So all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
So all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Then all ye people pluckt fro them selues the golden earings, which were in their eares, and they brought them vnto Aaron.
Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Everybody took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron,
The people stripped off their gold earrings and brought them to Aharon.
Then all the people broke off the golden rings that were in their ears, and brought [them] to Aaron.
So the people collected all their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.
So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
So all the people removed the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
So all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.
So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.
And all the people broke off the rings of gold in their ears, and they brought to Aaron.
Then all the people pluckte of their golden earynges from their eares, & brought them vnto Aaron.
And all the people brake off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
And all the people took the gold rings from their ears and gave them to Aaron.
And all the people plucked of the golden earinges which they had in their eares, and brought them vnto Aaron.
And all the people brake off the golden earerings, which were in their eares, and brought them vnto Aaron.
And all the people took off the golden ear-rings that were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
And all the people brake off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Then all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.
The puple dide tho thingis, that he comaundide, and brouyte eere ryngis to Aaron;
and all the people themselves break off the rings of gold which [are] in their ears, and bring in unto Aaron,
And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
And all the people broke off the golden ear-rings which [were] in their ears, and brought [them] to Aaron.
All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron.
So all the people took the gold objects from their ears and brought them to Aaron.
So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
And all the people of themselves brake off the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
And the people did what he had commanded, bringing the earrings to Aaron.
So all the people took off the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Judges 17:3, Judges 17:4, Isaiah 40:19, Isaiah 40:20, Isaiah 46:6, Jeremiah 10:9
Reciprocal: Genesis 24:22 - took Exodus 33:6 - General Exodus 35:22 - bracelets Exodus 36:5 - General Judges 8:24 - give me
Cross-References
and the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wilderness.
And Esau said to Jacob: 'Let me swallow, I pray thee, some of this red, red pottage; for I am faint.' Therefore was his name called Edom.
And I have oxen, and asses and flocks, and men-servants and maid-servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favour in thy sight.'
And he said: 'If Esau come to the one camp, and smite it, then the camp which is left shall escape.'
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: 'for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.'
And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not the sinew of the thigh-vein which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day; because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, even in the sinew of the thigh-vein.
Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant; and I will journey on gently, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.'
So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.
contend not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.
as He did for the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day;
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And all the people brake off the golden earrings, which were in their ears,.... The men took off their earrings, and persuaded their wives and children, or obliged them to part with theirs; though the Targum of Jonathan says the women refused to give their ornaments to their husbands, therefore all the people immediately broke off all the golden ornaments which were in their ears x, so intent were they upon idolatry. This is to be understood not of every individual, but of the greatest part of the people; so apostle explains it of some of them, 1 Corinthians 10:7. Idolaters spare no cost nor pains to support their worship, and will strip themselves, their wives, and children, of their ornaments, to deck their idols; which may shame the worshippers of the true God, who are oftentimes too backward to contribute towards the maintenance of his worship and service:
and brought [them] unto Aaron: presently, the selfsame day; they soon forgot the commands enjoined them to have no other gods, save one, and to make no graven image to bow down to it, and their own words,
Exodus 24:7.
x So Pirke Eliezer, c. 45.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
In all probability these three chapters originally formed a distinct composition. The main incidents recorded in them follow in the order of time, and are therefore in their proper place as regards historical sequence.
The golden calf - The people had, to a great extent, lost the patriarchal faith, and were but imperfectly instructed in the reality of a personal unseen God. Being disappointed at the long absence of Moses, they seem to have imagined that he had deluded them, and had probably been destroyed amidst the thunders of the mountain Exodus 24:15-18. Accordingly, they gave way to their superstitious fears and fell back upon that form of idolatry which was most familiar to them (see Exodus 32:4 note). The narrative of the circumstances is more briefly given by Moses at a later period in one of his addresses to the people Deuteronomy 9:8-21, Deuteronomy 9:25-29; Deuteronomy 10:1-5, Deuteronomy 10:8-11. It is worthy of remark, that Josephus, in his very characteristic chapter on the giving of the law, says nothing whatever of this act of apostacy, though he relates that Moses twice ascended the mountain.
Exodus 32:1
Unto Aaron - The chief authority during the absence of Moses was committed to Aaron and Hur Exodus 24:14.
Make us gods - The substantive אלהים 'elôhı̂ym is plural in form and may denote gods. But according to the Hebrew idiom, the meaning need not be plural, and hence, the word is used as the common designation of the true God (Genesis 1:1, etc. See Exodus 21:6 note). It here denotes a god, and should be so rendered.
Exodus 32:2
Break off the golden earrings - It has been very generally held from early times, that Aaron did not willingly lend himself to the mad design of the multitude; but that, overcome by their importunity, he asked them to give up such possessions as he knew they would not willingly part with, in the hope of putting a check on them. Assuming this to have been his purpose, he took a wrong measure of their fanaticism, for all the people made the sacrifice at once Exodus 32:3. His weakness, in any case, was unpardonable and called for the intercession of Moses Deuteronomy 9:20.
Exodus 32:4
The sense approved by most modern critics is: and he received the gold at their hand and collected it in a bag and made it a molten calf. The Israelites must have been familiar with the ox-worship of the Egyptians; perhaps many of them had witnessed the rites of Mnevis at Heliopolis, almost; on the borders of the land of Goshen, and they could not have been unacquainted with the more famous rites of Apis at Memphis. It is expressly said that they yielded to the idolatry of Egypt while they were in bondage Joshua 24:14; Ezekiel 20:8; Ezekiel 23:3, Ezekiel 23:8; and this is in keeping with the earliest Jewish tradition (Philo). In the next verse, Aaron appears to speak of the calf as if it was a representative of Yahweh - “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.” The Israelites did not, it should be noted, worship a living Mnevis, or Apis, having a proper name, but only the golden type of the animal. The mystical notions connected with the ox by the Egyptian priests may have possessed their minds, and, when expressed in this modified and less gross manner, may have been applied to the Lord, who had really delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. Their sin then lay, not in their adopting another god, but in their pretending to worship a visible symbol of Him whom no symbol could represent. The close connection between the calves of Jeroboam and this calf is shown by the repetition of the formula, “which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” 1 Kings 12:28.
These be thy gods - This is thy god. See Exodus 32:1 note.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Exodus 32:3. And all the people brake off the golden ear-rings — The human being is naturally fond of dress, though this has been improperly attributed to the female sex alone, and those are most fond of it who have the shallowest capacities; but on this occasion the bent of the people to idolatry was greater than even their love of dress, so that they readily stripped themselves of their ornaments in order to get a molten god. They made some compensation for this afterwards; see Exodus 35:22, and Exodus 38:9; Exodus 38:9.
