the Third Week after Easter
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New American Standard Bible (1995)
Exodus 32:4
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He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said, "These are your gods, Yisra'el, which brought you up out of the land of Mitzrayim."
And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And he took from their hand, and he shaped it with a tool, and he made it a cast-image bull calf, and they said, "These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."
He took the gold from the people and formed it with a tool and made a statue of a calf. Then the people said, "Israel, these are your gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!"
He accepted the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molten calf. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."
And he took the gold from their hands, and fashioned it with an engraving 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."
Then he took the gold from their hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a cast metal calf; and they said, "This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."
Who receiued them at their handes, and facioned it with the grauing toole, & made of it a molte calfe: then they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of ye lad of Egypt
And he took this from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt."
then he melted them and made an idol in the shape of a young bull. All the people said to one another, "This is the god who brought us out of Egypt!"
He received what they gave him, melted it down, and made it into the shape of a calf. They said, "Isra'el! Here is your god, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!"
And he took [them] out of their hand, and fashioned it with a chisel and made of it a molten calf: and they said, This is thy god, Israel, who has brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!
He took the gold from the people and used it to make an idol. Using a special tool, he shaped the gold into a statue of a calf. Then the people said, "Israel, here are your gods! These are the gods that brought you out of the land of Egypt!"
And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"
And he received them, and drew a design, and made it a molten calf; and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
He took the earrings, melted them, poured the gold into a mold, and made a gold bull-calf. The people said, "Israel, this is our god, who led us out of Egypt!"
He took the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf.
And he took them from their hand and formed it with an engraving tool. And he made it a casted calf. And they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who made you go up from the land of Egypt.
And he toke them of their handes, & fashioned it wt a grauer. And they made a molten calfe, and sayde: These are thy goddes (O Israel) that brought the out of the londe of Egipte.
And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf: and they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And he took the gold from them and, hammering it with an instrument, he made it into the metal image of a young ox: and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt.
And he receaued them of their handes, & fashioned it with a grauer, & made of it a calfe of molten mettel: and they said, These be thy gods O Israel, which brought thee out of the lande of Egypt.
And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said: 'This is thy god, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'
And hee receiued them at their hand, and fashioned it with a grauing toole, after hee had made it a molten calfe: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee vp out of the land of Egypt.
And he received them at their hands, and formed them with a graving tool; and he made them a molten calf, and said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, "O Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"
and whanne he hadde take tho, he formede bi `werk of yetyng, and made of tho a yotun calf. And thei seiden, Israel, these ben thi goddis, that ladde thee out of the lond of Egipt.
and he receiveth from their hand, and doth fashion it with a graving tool, and doth make it a molten calf, and they say, `These thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'
And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it [into] a molten calf: and they said, These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
And he received [them] at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said, "These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt."
And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!"
Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, "O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!"
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."
He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"
And he received the gold at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf, and they said - These, are thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee up, out of the land of Egypt.
And when he had received them, he fashioned them by founders’ work, and made of them a molten calf. And they said: These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
And he received the gold at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made a molten calf; and they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
fashioned: Exodus 20:23, Deuteronomy 9:16, Psalms 106:19-21, Isaiah 44:9, Isaiah 44:10, Isaiah 46:6, Acts 7:41, Acts 17:29
a graving: Exodus 28:9, Exodus 28:11
calf: 1 Kings 12:28, 1 Kings 12:32, 2 Kings 10:29, 2 Chronicles 11:15, 2 Chronicles 13:8, Hosea 8:4, Hosea 8:5, Hosea 10:5, Hosea 13:2
These: Exodus 32:8, Judges 17:3, Judges 17:4, Nehemiah 9:18, Isaiah 40:18, Isaiah 40:19, Romans 1:21-23
which brought: Exodus 32:1, Exodus 32:8, Exodus 20:2
Reciprocal: Exodus 32:5 - a feast Exodus 32:19 - he saw Exodus 32:24 - So they Leviticus 19:4 - molten gods 2 Kings 17:16 - molten images Isaiah 42:17 - say to Isaiah 44:12 - The smith Ezekiel 16:26 - with the Ezekiel 20:8 - they did Ezekiel 23:8 - whoredoms Daniel 3:2 - sent
Cross-References
"If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it."
"Hear us, my lord, you are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our graves; none of us will refuse you his grave for burying your dead."
May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you."
But Isaac replied to Esau, "Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?"
I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight."'"
then you shall say, 'These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.'"
And he said, "What do you mean by all this company which I have met?" And he said, "To find favor in the sight of my lord."
Aaron said, "Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil.
Then Saul recognized David's voice and said, "Is this your voice, my son David?" And David said, "It is my voice, my lord the king."
So they girded sackcloth on their loins and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, "Your servant Ben-hadad says, 'Please let me live.'" And he said, "Is he still alive? He is my brother."
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And he received [them] at their hand,.... For the use they delivered them to him:
and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf; that is, after he had melted the gold, and cast it into a mould, which gave it the figure of a calf, and with his tool wrought it into a more agreeable form, he took off the roughness of it, and polished it; or if it was in imitation of the Egyptian Apis or Osiris, he might with his graving tool engrave such marks and figures as were upon that; to cause the greater resemblance, so Selden y thinks;
see Gill "Jer 46:20" or else the sense may be, that he drew the figure of a calf with his tool, or made it in "a mould" z, into which he poured in the melted gold,
and made it a molten calf; the Targum of Jonathan gives another sense of the former clause, "he bound it up in a napkin"; in a linen cloth or bag, i.e. the gold of the ear rings, and then put it into the melting pot, and so cast it into a mould, and made a calf of it. Jarchi takes notice of this sense, and it is espoused by Bochart a, who produces two passages of Scripture for the confirmation of it, Judges 8:24 and illustrates it by Isaiah 46:6. What inclined Aaron to make it in the form of a calf, is not easy to say; whether in imitation of the cherubim, one of the faces of which was that of an ox, as Moncaeus thought; or whether in imitation of the Osiris of the Egyptians, who was worshipped in a living ox, and sometimes in the image of one, even a golden one. Plutarch is express for it, and says b, that the ox was an image of Osiris, and that it was a golden one; and so says Philo the Jew c, the Israelites, emulous of Egyptian figments, made a golden ox; or whether he did this to make them ashamed of their idolatry, thinking they would never be guilty of worshipping the form of an ox eating grass, or because an ox was an emblem of power and majesty:
and they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, [which brought] thee up out of the land of Egypt; they own they were, brought up out of that land by the divine Being; and they could not be so stupid as to believe, that this calf, which was only a mass of gold, figured and decorated, was inanimate, had no life nor breath, and was just made, after their coming out of Egypt, was what brought them from hence; but that this was a representation of God, who had done this for them; yet some Jewish writers are so foolish as to suppose, that through art it had the breath of life in it, and came out of the mould a living calf, Satan, or Samael, entering into it, and lowed in it d.
y De Diis Syris Syntagm. 1. c. 4. p. 138. z ××צר ××ª× ×××¨× "formavit illud modulo", Piscator; so some in Ben Melech, and in Vatablus; and so the Vulgate Latin, "formant opere fusorio"; see Fagius in loc. a Hierozoic. p. 1. l. 2. c. 39. col. 334, 335. b De Isid. & Osir. c De Vita Mosis, l. 3. p. 677. d 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 ××××× 'eloÌhıÌym 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 - âTomorrow is a feast to the Lord.â 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, âwhich brought thee up out of the land of Egyptâ 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 32:4. Fashioned it with a graving tool — There has been much controversy about the meaning of the word ××¨× cheret in the text: some make it a mould, others a garment, cloth, or apron; some a purse or bag, and others a graver. It is likely that some mould was made on this occasion, that the gold when fused was cast into it, and that afterwards it was brought into form and symmetry by the action of the chisel and graver.
These be thy gods, O Israel — The whole of this is a most strange and unaccountable transaction. Was it possible that the people could have so soon lost sight of the wonderful manifestations of God upon the mount? Was it possible that Aaron could have imagined that he could make any god that could help them? And yet it does not appear that he ever remonstrated with the people! Possibly he only intended to make them some symbolical representation of the Divine power and energy, that might be as evident to them as the pillar of cloud and fire had been, and to which God might attach an always present energy and influence; or in requiring them to sacrifice their ornaments, he might have supposed they would have desisted from urging their request: but all this is mere conjecture, with very little probability to support it. It must however be granted that Aaron does not appear to have even designed a worship that should supersede the worship of the Most High; hence we find him making proclamation, To-morrow is a feast to the LORD, (××××); and we find farther that some of the proper rites of the true worship were observed on this occasion, for they brought burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, Exodus 32:6-7: hence it is evident he intended that the true God should be the object of their worship, though he permitted and even encouraged them to offer this worship through an idolatrous medium, the molten calf. It has been supposed that this was an exact resemblance of the famous Egyptian god Apis who was worshipped under the form of an ox, which worship the Israelites no doubt saw often practised in Egypt. Some however think that this worship of Apis was not then established; but we have already had sufficient proof that different animals were sacred among the Egyptians, nor have we any account of any worship in Egypt earlier than that offered to Apis, under the figure of an OX.
