Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, May 11th, 2025
the Fourth Sunday after Easter
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

New American Standard Bible (1995)

Exodus 32:3

Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ear-Ring;   Falsehood;   Feasts;   Idol;   Quotations and Allusions;   Thompson Chain Reference - Aaron;   The Topic Concordance - Idolatry;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Calf of Gold;   Gold;   Idolatry;   Offence;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Aaron;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Israel;   Priest, Priesthood;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Exodus, Book of;   Golden Calf;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Aaron;   Anger (Wrath) of God;   Calf, Golden;   Exodus;   Moses;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Lamb;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Calf, Golden;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Calf;   Plagues of egypt;   Table;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Aaron;   Calf;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Moses;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Events of the Encampment;   Priesthood, the;   On to Canaan;   Moses, the Man of God;   Law of Moses, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Gold;   Moses;   Sacrifice;   Wanderings of Israel;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Aaron;   Angelology;   Sacrifice;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aharon.
King James Version
And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Lexham English Bible
And all the people took off the rings of gold that were on their ears and brought it to Aaron.
New Century Version
So all the people took their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.
New English Translation
So all the people broke off the gold earrings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Amplified Bible
So all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
New American Standard Bible
So all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then all ye people pluckt fro them selues the golden earings, which were in their eares, and they brought them vnto Aaron.
Legacy Standard Bible
Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Contemporary English Version
Everybody took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron,
Complete Jewish Bible
The people stripped off their gold earrings and brought them to Aharon.
Darby Translation
Then all the people broke off the golden rings that were in their ears, and brought [them] to Aaron.
Easy-to-Read Version
So the people collected all their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.
English Standard Version
So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
George Lamsa Translation
So all the people removed the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
Good News Translation
So all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.
Christian Standard Bible®
So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Literal Translation
And all the people broke off the rings of gold in their ears, and they brought to Aaron.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then all the people pluckte of their golden earynges from their eares, & brought them vnto Aaron.
American Standard Version
And all the people brake off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Bible in Basic English
And all the people took the gold rings from their ears and gave them to Aaron.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And all the people plucked of the golden earinges which they had in their eares, and brought them vnto Aaron.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
King James Version (1611)
And all the people brake off the golden earerings, which were in their eares, and brought them vnto Aaron.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And all the people took off the golden ear-rings that were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
English Revised Version
And all the people brake off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Berean Standard Bible
Then all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The puple dide tho thingis, that he comaundide, and brouyte eere ryngis to Aaron;
Young's Literal Translation
and all the people themselves break off the rings of gold which [are] in their ears, and bring in unto Aaron,
Update Bible Version
And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
Webster's Bible Translation
And all the people broke off the golden ear-rings which [were] in their ears, and brought [them] to Aaron.
World English Bible
All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
New King James Version
So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
New Living Translation
All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron.
New Life Bible
So all the people took the gold objects from their ears and brought them to Aaron.
New Revised Standard
So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And all the people of themselves brake off the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the people did what he had commanded, bringing the earrings to Aaron.
Revised Standard Version
So all the people took off the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.

Contextual Overview

1 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for 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, "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 molten calf; and they said, "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 offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

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

Genesis 14:6
and the Horites in their Mount Seir, as far as El-paran, which is by the wilderness.
Genesis 25:30
and Esau said to Jacob, "Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished." Therefore his name was called Edom.
Genesis 32:6
The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him."
Genesis 32:9
Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you,'
Genesis 32:31
Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh.
Genesis 32:32
Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip.
Genesis 33:14
"Please let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at Seir."
Genesis 33:16
So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.
Deuteronomy 2:5
do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a footstep because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.
Deuteronomy 2:22
just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to 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.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile