26. So Moses stood at the gate of the camp and shouted, “Everyone who is on the Lord's side come over here!”Then the men of the Levi tribe gathered around Moses,
27. and he said to them, “The Lord God of Israel commands you to strap on your swords and go through the camp, killing your relatives, your friends, and your neighbours.”
28. The men of the Levi tribe followed his orders, and that day they killed about three thousand men.
29. Moses said to them, “You obeyed the Lord and did what was right, and so you will serve as his priests for the people of Israel. It was hard for you to kill your own sons and brothers, but the Lord has blessed you and made you his priests today.”
30. The next day Moses told the people, “This is a terrible thing you have done. But I will go back to the Lord to see if I can do something to keep this sin from being held against you.”
31. Moses returned to the Lord and said, “The people have committed a terrible sin. They have made a gold idol to be their god.
32. But I beg you to forgive them. If you don't, please wipe my name out of your book.”
33. The Lord replied, “I will wipe out of my book the name of everyone who has sinned against me.
34. Now take my people to the place I told you about, and my angel will lead you. But when the time comes, I will punish them for this sin.”
35. So the Lord punished the people of Israel with a terrible disease for talking Aaron into making the gold idol.