Study Desk

So all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

So they got up early the next day and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; then the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play [shamefully—without moral restraint].

"Now therefore, let Me alone and do not interfere, so that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you (your descendants) a great nation."

So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He had said He would do to His people.

Then Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin on them?"

"I said to them, 'Let whoever has gold [jewelry], take it off.' So they gave it to me; then I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf."

So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people [of Israel] were killed that day.

Then Moses said [to the Levites], "Dedicate yourselves today to the LORD—for each man has been against his own son and his own brother [in his attempt to escape execution]—so that He may restore and bestow His blessing on you this day."

So Moses returned to the LORD, and said, "Oh, these people have committed a great sin [against You], and have made themselves a god of gold.

So the LORD struck the people with a plague, because of what they had done with the calf which Aaron had made [for them].

For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the sons of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people! If I should come among you for one moment, I would destroy you. Now therefore, [penitently] take off your ornaments, so that I may know what to do with you.'"

So the Israelites left off all their ornaments [in repentance], from Mount Horeb (Sinai) onward.

And so the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his attendant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

"Now therefore, I pray you, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways so that I may know You [becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with You, recognizing and understanding Your ways more clearly] and that I may find grace and favor in Your sight. And consider also, that this nation is Your people."

"For how then can it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your sight? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we are distinguished, Your people and I, from all the [other] people on the face of the earth?"

"So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain.

So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and he got up early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took the two tablets of stone in his hand.

"Watch yourself so that you do not make a covenant (solemn agreement, treaty) with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a [dangerous] trap among you.

the Israelites would see the face of Moses, how his skin shone [with a unique radiance]. So Moses put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with God.

So Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person in whom the LORD had put ability, everyone whose heart stirred him, to come to do the work.