³⁸ He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel^(A) who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors;^(B) and he received living words^(C) to pass on to us.^(D)

³⁹ “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.^{(E) 40} They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’^{[a](F) 41} That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.^(G)