Exodus 31-33

Easy-to-Read Version

Bezalel and Oholiab

31 Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “I have chosen a man from the tribe of Judah to do some special work for me. His name is Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur. ³ I have filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God—I have given him the skill and knowledge to do all kinds of things. ⁴ He is a very good designer. And he can make things from gold, silver, and bronze. ⁵ He can cut and set beautiful jewels. And he can work with wood. He can do all kinds of work. ⁶ I have also chosen Oholiab to work with him. Oholiab is the son of Ahisamach from the tribe of Dan. And I have given skills to all the other workers so that they can make everything that I have commanded you:

These workers must make everything the way that I have commanded you.”

The Sabbath

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹³ “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You must follow the rules about my special days of rest. You must do this because they will be a sign between you and me for all generations. This will show you that I, the Lord, have made you my special people.

¹⁴ “‘Make the Sabbath a special day. If someone treats the Sabbath like any other day, that person must be killed. Whoever works on the Sabbath day must be separated from their people. ¹⁵ There are six other days in the week for working. But the seventh day is a very special day of rest. That is the special day to honor the Lord. Anyone who works during the Sabbath must be killed. ¹⁶ The Israelites must remember the Sabbath and make it a special day. They must continue to do this forever. It is an agreement between them and me that will continue forever. ¹⁷ The Sabbath will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever.’” (The Lord worked six days and made the sky and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and relaxed.)

¹⁸ When God finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two stone tablets of the agreement. God had written on the stones with his finger.

The Golden Calf

32 The people saw that a long time had passed and Moses had not come down from the mountain. So they gathered around Aaron. They said to him, “Look, Moses led us out of the land of Egypt, but we don’t know what has happened to him. So make us some gods to go before us and lead us.”

² Aaron said to the people, “Bring me the gold earrings that belong to your wives, sons, and daughters.”

³ So the people collected all their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took the gold from the people and used it to make an idol. Using a special tool, he shaped the gold into a statue of a calf.

Then the people said, “Israel, here are your gods! These are the gods that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”^[a]

⁵ Aaron saw all these things, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then Aaron made an announcement. He said, “Tomorrow will be a special festival to honor the Lord.”

⁶ The people woke up very early the next morning. They killed animals and offered them as burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. They sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up and had a wild party.

⁷ At the same time, the Lord said to Moses, “Go down from this mountain. Your people, the people you brought out of the land of Egypt, have committed a terrible sin. ⁸ They have very quickly turned away from what I commanded them to do. They made a calf from melted gold for themselves. They are worshiping that calf and making sacrifices to it. The people have said, ‘Israel, these are the gods that led you out of Egypt.’”

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and I know that they are very stubborn. They will always turn against me. ¹⁰ So now let me destroy them in anger. Then I will make a great nation from you.”

¹¹ But Moses begged the Lord his God, “Lord, don’t let your anger destroy your people. You brought them out of Egypt with your great power and strength. ¹² But if you destroy your people, the Egyptians will say, ‘God planned to do bad things to his people. That is why he led them out of Egypt. He wanted to kill them in the mountains. He wanted to wipe them off the earth.’ So don’t be angry with your people. Please change your mind! Don’t destroy them. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. These men served you, and you used your name to make a promise to them. You said, ‘I will make your people as many as the stars in the sky. I will give your people all this land as I promised. This land will be theirs forever.’”

¹⁴ So the Lord felt sorry for the people. He did not do what he said he might do—he did not destroy them.

¹⁵ Then Moses went down the mountain. He had the two stone tablets with the agreement on them. The commandments were written on both sides of the stone, front and back. ¹⁶ God himself made the stones, and God himself wrote the commandments on them.

¹⁷ Joshua heard the noise from the party in camp. He said to Moses, “It sounds like war down in the camp!”

¹⁸ Moses answered, “It is not the noise of an army shouting for victory. And it is not the noise of an army crying from defeat. The noise I hear is the sound of music.^[b]”

¹⁹ When Moses came near the camp, he saw the golden calf and the people dancing. He became very angry, and he threw the stone tablets on the ground. The stones broke into several pieces at the bottom of the mountain. ²⁰ Then Moses destroyed the calf that the people had made. He melted it in the fire. Then he ground the gold until it became dust and threw it into the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink that water.

²¹ Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you that would make you do this? Why did you lead them to do such a terrible sin?”

²² Aaron answered, “Don’t be angry, sir. 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. So make us some gods to lead us.’ ²⁴ So I told the people, ‘If you have any gold rings, then give them to me.’ The people gave me their gold. I threw the gold into the fire, and out of the fire came this calf!”

²⁵ Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get out of control. They were being wild, and all their enemies could see them acting like fools. ²⁶ So Moses stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Anyone who wants to follow the Lord should come to me.” Everyone from the tribe of Levi ran to Moses.

²⁷ Then Moses said to them, “I will tell you what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every man must get his sword and go from one end of the camp to the other. You men must kill those who are against the Lord, even if they are your brothers, friends, or neighbors.’”

²⁸ The people from the tribe of Levi obeyed Moses. That day about 3000 of the people died. ²⁹ Then Moses said, “Take your role today as special servants of the Lord because you were willing to fight against even your own sons and brothers. You will receive a blessing for this.”^[c]

³⁰ The next morning Moses told the people, “You have committed a terrible sin! But now I will go up to the Lord, and maybe I can do something so that he will forgive you for your sin.” ³¹ So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Please listen! These people committed a terrible sin and made a god from gold. ³² Now, forgive them of this sin. If you will not forgive them, then erase my name from your book.^[d]”

³³ But the Lord said to Moses, “The only people I erase from my book are those who sin against me. ³⁴ So now, go down and lead the people where I tell you to go. My angel will go before you and lead you. When the time comes to punish those who sinned, they will be punished.” ³⁵ So the Lord caused a terrible sickness to come to the people. He did this because they told Aaron to make the golden calf.

I Will Not Go With You

33 Then the Lord said to Moses, “You and the people you brought out of Egypt must leave this place. Go to the land that I promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I promised them that I would give that land to their descendants. ² So I will send an angel to go before you, and I will defeat the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. I will force them to leave your land. ³ So go to the land filled with many good things,^[e] but I will not go with you. You people are very stubborn. If I go with you, I might destroy you along the way.”

⁴ The people heard this bad news and became very sad, so they stopped wearing jewelry. ⁵ This was because the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stubborn people. I might destroy you even if I travel with you only a short time. So take off all your jewelry while I decide^[f] what to do with you.’” ⁶ So the Israelites stopped wearing their jewelry at Mount Horeb.

The Temporary Meeting Tent

⁷ Moses used to take a tent a short way outside the camp. He called it “the meeting tent.^[g]” Anyone who wanted to ask something from the Lord would go to the meeting tent outside the camp. ⁸ Any time Moses went out to the tent, all the people watched him. They stood at the entrance of their tents and watched Moses until he entered the meeting tent. ⁹ Whenever Moses went into the tent, the tall cloud would come down and stay at the entrance to the tent. And the Lord would speak with Moses. ¹⁰ So when the people saw the cloud at the entrance of the tent, they would go to the entrance of their own tents and bow down to worship God.

¹¹ In this way the Lord spoke to Moses face to face like a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would go back to the camp, but his helper, Joshua son of Nun, always stayed in the tent.

Moses Sees the Glory of the Lord

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “You told me to lead these people, but you did not say who you would send with me. You said to me, ‘I know you very well, and I am pleased with you.’ ¹³ If I have really pleased you, then teach me your ways. I want to know you. Then I can continue to please you. Remember that these people are your nation.”

¹⁴ The Lord answered, “I myself will go with you. I will lead you.”^[h]

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If you don’t go with us, then don’t make us leave this place. ¹⁶ Also, how will we know if you are pleased with me and these people? If you go with us, we will know for sure. If you don’t go with us, these people and I will be no different from any other people on the earth.”

¹⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will do what you ask. I will do this because I am pleased with you and because I know you very well.”^[i]

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Now, please show me your Glory.”

¹⁹ Then the Lord answered, “I will show my love and mercy to anyone I want to. So I will cause my perfect goodness to pass by in front of you, and I will speak my name, Yahweh, so that you can hear it. ²⁰ But you cannot see my face. No one can see me and continue to live.”

²¹ Then the Lord said, “Here is a place for you to stand by me on this large rock. ²² I will put you in a large crack in that rock. Then I will cover you with my hand, and my Glory will pass by. ²³ Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back. But you will not see my face.”