22. Aaron answered, “Don’t be angry, master. You know that these people are always ready to do wrong.
23. The people said to me, ‘Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don’t know what has happened to him. Make us gods who will lead us.’
24. So I told the people, ‘Take off your gold jewelry.’ When they gave me the gold, I threw it into the fire and out came this calf!”
25. Moses saw that the people were acting wildly. Aaron had let them get out of control and become fools in front of their enemies.
26. So Moses stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Let anyone who wants to follow the Lord come to me.” And all the people from the family of Levi gathered around Moses.
27. Then Moses said to them, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says this: ‘Every man must put on his sword and go through the camp from one end to the other. Each man must kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’ ”
28. The people from the family of Levi obeyed Moses, and that day about three thousand of the Israelites died.
29. Then Moses said, “Today you have been given for service to the Lord. You were willing to kill your own sons and brothers, and God has blessed you for this.”
30. The next day Moses told the people, “You have done a terrible sin. But now I will go up to the Lord. Maybe I can do something so your sins will be removed.”
31. So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “How terribly these people have sinned! They have made for themselves gods from gold.