¹⁵ “So ^(A)be very careful ^[a]yourselves, since you did not see any ^(B)form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, ¹⁶ so that you do not ^(C)act corruptly and ^(D)make a carved image for yourselves in the form of any figure, a representation of male or female, ¹⁷ a representation of any animal that is on the earth, a representation of ^(E)any winged bird that flies in the sky, ¹⁸ a representation of anything that crawls on the ground, or a representation of any fish that is in the water below the earth. ¹⁹ And be careful not to raise your eyes to heaven and look at the sun, the moon, and the stars, ^(F)all the heavenly ^[b]lights, ^(G)and allow yourself to be drawn away and worship them and serve them, things which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

The Golden Calf

32 Now when the people saw that Moses ^(A)delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled around Aaron and said to him, “Come, ^(B)make us ^[a]a god who will go before us; for ^(C)this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.” ² Aaron said to them, “^(D)Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ Then he took the gold from their ^[b]hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a ^(E)cast metal calf; and they said, “^[c]This is your god, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

⁷ And ^(A)they shall no longer offer their sacrifices to the ^[a]goat demons with which they play the prostitute. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations.”’

The Prophecies of Balaam

23 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.” ² Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. ³ Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a bare hill.