19. When he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became extremely angry. He threw the tablets from his hands and broke them to pieces at the bottom of the mountain.
20. He took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, poured it out on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.
21. Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought on them so great a sin?”
22. Aaron said, “Do not let your anger burn hot, my lord; you know these people, that they tend to evil.
23. They said to me, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’
24. So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.”
25. Moses saw that the people were running wild, for Aaron had let them get completely out of control, causing derision from their enemies.