15Moses then turned around and came down the mountain. He carried the two covenant tablets in his hands. The tablets were written on both sides, front and back. 16The tablets were God's own work. What was written there was God's own writing inscribed on the tablets. 17When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "It sounds like war in the camp."
18But Moses said,
"It isn't the sound of a victory song.
It isn't the sound of a song of defeat.
The sound of party songs is what I hear."
19When he got near the camp and saw the bull calf and the dancing, Moses was furious. He hurled the tablets down and shattered them in pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20He took the calf that they had made and burned it in a fire. Then he ground it down to crushed powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.
21Moses said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you that you led them to commit such a terrible sin?"
22Aaron replied, "Don't get angry with me, sir. You know yourself that these people are out of control.x 23They said to me, 'Make us gods who can lead us. As for this man Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't have a clue what has happened to him.'24So I said to them, 'Whoever has gold, take it off!' So they gave it to me, I threw it into the fire, and out came this bull calf!"
25Moses saw that the people were out of control because Aaron had let them get out of control, making them an easy target for their enemies. 26So Moses stood at the camp's gate and said, "Whoever is on the LORD's side, come to me!" All the Levites gathered around him. 27Moses said to them, "This is what the LORD, Israel's God, says: Each of you, strap on your sword! Go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. Each of you, kill your brother, your friend, and your neighbor!"28The Levites did as Moses commanded. About three thousand people were killed that day. 29Moses said, "Today you've been ordained to the LORD, each one of you at the cost of a son or a brother. Today you've gained a special blessing for yourselves."
30The next day Moses said to the people, "You've committed a terrible sin. So now I will go up to the LORD. Maybe I can arrange reconciliation on account of your sin."31So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Oh, what a terrible sin these people have committed! They made for themselves godsy of gold. 32But now, please forgive their sin! And if not, then wipe me out of your scroll that you've written."
33But the LORD said to Moses, "The ones I'll wipe out of my scroll are those who sinned against me. 34Now go and lead the people to the place I described to you. My messenger here will go in front of you. When the day of reckoning comes, I'll count their sin against them."35Then the LORD sent a plague on the people because of what they did with the bull calf that Aaron made.
The LORD: "I can't go"
Exodus 33The LORD said to Moses, "Go and leave this place, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt. Go to the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, 'I'll give it to your descendants.'2I'll send a messenger before you. I'll drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3Go to this land full of milk and honey. But I won't go up with you because I would end up destroying you along the way since you are a stubborn people."
4When the people heard the bad news, they were sorry. No one put on any jewelry, 5because the LORD had said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites, 'You are a stubborn people. If I were to go up with you even for a single moment, I would destroy you. So now take off your jewelry, while I figure out what to do with you.'"6So after leaving Mount Horeb the Israelites rid themselves of their jewelry.
Speaking with the LORD at the meeting tent
7Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, far away from the camp. He called it the meeting tent. Everyone who wanted advice from the LORD would go out to the meeting tent outside the camp. 8Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand at the entrance to their tents and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9When Moses entered the tent, the column of cloud would come down and stand at the tent's entrance while the LORD talked with Moses. 10When all the people saw the column of cloud standing at the tent's entrance, they would all rise and then bow down at the entrances to their tents. 11In this way the LORD used to speak to Moses face-to-face, like two people talking to each other. Then Moses would come back to the camp. But his young assistant Joshua, Nun's son, wouldn't leave the tent.
Moses pleads with God
12Moses said to the LORD, "Look, you've been telling me, 'Lead these people forward.' But you haven't told me whom you will send with me. Yet you've assured me, 'I know you by name and think highly of you.'13Now if you do think highly of me, show me your ways so that I may know you and so that you may really approve of me. Remember too that this nation is your people."
14The LORD replied, "I'll go myself, and I'll help you."
15Moses replied, "If you won't go yourself, don't make us leave here. 16Because how will anyone know that we have your special approval, both I and your people, unless you go with us? Only that distinguishes us, me and your people, from every other people on the earth."
17The LORD said to Moses, "I'll do exactly what you've asked because you have my special approval, and I know you by name."
18Moses said, "Please show me your glorious presence."
19The LORD said, "I'll make all my goodness pass in front of you, and I'll proclaim before you the name, 'The LORD.' I will be kind to whomever I wish to be kind, and I will have compassion to whomever I wish to be compassionate. 20But," the LORD said, "you can't see my face because no one can see me and live."21The LORD said, "Here is a place near me where you will stand beside the rock. 22As my glorious presence passes by, I'll set you in a gap in the rock, and I'll cover you with my hand until I've passed by. 23Then I'll take away my hand, and you will see my back, but my face won't be visible."
A deeper revealing of God's character
Exodus 34The LORD said to Moses, "Cut two stone tablets like the first ones. I'll write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke into pieces. 2Get ready in the morning and come up to Mount Sinai. Stand there on top of the mountain in front of me. 3No one else can come up with you. Don't allow anyone even to be seen anywhere on the mountain. Don't even let sheep and cattle graze in front of the mountain."4So Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning and climbed up Mount Sinai, just as the LORD had commanded him. He carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5The LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him, and proclaimed the name, "The LORD."6The LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed:
"The LORD! The LORD!
a God who is compassionate and merciful,
very patient,
full of great loyalty and faithfulness,
7showing great loyalty to a thousand generations,
forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion,
yet by no means clearing the guilty,
punishing for their parents' sins
their