1: And the people see/perceive that Moses (pull out) is ashamed to go down from the mountain. And the people are assembled over Aaron (no meaning!). And they say to him, “Come, make Elohim / gods (pl) for us who walk (3mp) in front of us. For this Moses, the man who caused to ascend (alah)us from the land of Egypt (pl of matsor – defended safe places/ fortresses) – we had not known what became of him”.
2: And Aaron says to them, “Tear off the gold ear/nose rings which are in your women, sons and daughters ears and cause to traverse them over me”.
3: And the made themselves tear their gold ear rings off their ears themselves and cause to traverse over Aaron.
4: And He takes (them) from their hands. And he forms/shapes them with an engraver.
And he makes them a molten calf.
And he says to them, “these, your gods, Israel, which caused you to ascend out of the land of Egypt”.
5: And Aaron perceives and he builds an altar before him and Aaron calls out and he says, “A Feast (Khag) for Yehoweh tomorrow/later”.
6: And they arise-early-in-the-morning (shakam) of the next day (makar) and they make burnt offerings ascend. And they make peaces / peace offerings brought near. And the people settle / permanently reside (yshav) to eat and to drink. And they stand up to laugh (tska – word from which comes Isaac, amused laughter. Stand up is koom – take a stand – making a point of making fun of Yehoweh ).
Phew!
7: And Yehoweh SAYS to Moses, “Walk (lek)! Descend (yarad – opposite of alah)! For your people whom you made ascend from Egypt’s land have been ruined (shathak eg what God did in the flood).
8: They have quickly (maher) turned aside (depart/back slide) from The Way which I had COMMANDED them, made them a molten calf. And they make themselves bow themselves down to it. And they sacrifice to it. And they say ‘These, your gods, Israel, which caused you to ascend out of the land of Egypt’”.
9: And Yehoweh says to Moses, “I saw this – The (the time of this) people. And Behold him (the people) – a harsh neck.
10: And now make Me lie down!
And my burning temper (nostril) to them and I EAT them.
And I make for you a great unbelieving nation.
11: And Moses is sick with Yehoweh His God and says Yehoweh why-for Your burning temper (nostril) to Your people whom You caused to bring out from Egypt’s land with great sticking-power and a mighty hand?
12: For why Egypt (defended safe places) says He caused to bring them out to say evil-trouble to them, to murder them in the mountains and to EAT them up from the face of the fields (Adamah).
Turn back (repent) from Your burning anger.
And be sorry for the evil-trouble of Your people.
13 : Remember of Abraham, of Isaac and of Israel, Your servants to whom You swore to Yourself. And You speak to them, I cause increase of your seed like stars of the heavens. And all this, The land of which I spoke, I give to your seed. And they inherit it forever.
14: So Yehoweh is sorry over the evil- trouble which He said to make for His people.
Phew!
15:And Moses faces and descends from the mountain. And two tablets of witness in his hand, tablets written over their two sides, those written on this and on this.
16: And the tablets, they are God’s work. And the writing – it is God’s writing engraved on the tablets.
17: And Joshua hears the voice of the people, the roar. And he says to Moses, “ A sound of war in the encampment”.
18: And He says, “It is not an answering voice (echo?) of might. It is not an answering voice of defeat, the answering voice I hear”.
19: And it happens as when he nears the encampment and he sees the calf and the dance, Moses’ anger burns. And he causes the tablets to be thrown from his hand and he shatters them under the mountain.
20: And He takes the calf which they made and burns it in the fire. And grinds it over as powder and winnow it over the face of the water and makes the sons of Israel drink it.
21: And Moses says to Aaron, “What is this you did for the people that you caused this great missing-the-mark sin to traverse over them?”
22: And Aaron says, “Don’t burn my Lord’s anger. You knew the People as it is (they are) for evil-trouble.
23: And they say to me, ‘ Make gods for us which walk before our faces. For this Moses, the man who made us ascend from Egypt’s land, we do not know what became of him.
24: And I say to them, ‘ for who has gold, make yourselves tear it off’. And they gave it to me and I cast it into a fire and this Calf emerged out”.
25: And Moses sees the (time of) people – they who were unloosed (phra word plays pharaoh) for Aaron had unloosed (Phrauah) them to derision of their upstanding (ones).
26: And Moses stands at the camp gate and says, “To me, who is for Yehoweh”. And all Levi’s (attached to) sons are gathering (asaf – gather to assemble) to him.
27: And He says to them, “ Thus says Yehoweh, god (Elohi – deliberately not Elohim?) of Israel, Take a stand, man – his sword on his thigh. Cross- over (avar/ Hebrew)). And turn back (shoov) from gate to camp gate. And make a man kill his brother, a man his friend and a man his nearest.
28: And sons of Levi did as said by Moses. And of the people on that day fell around three thousand men.
29: And Moses says, “(It is) ‘ for Yehoweh’ day. Fill your hands. For a man to his son and to his brother. And the day (to) give a blessing over you.
30: And ti happens on the next day. And Moses says to the people, “ You have missed-the-mark-sinned a great miss-the-mark-sin. And now I ascend to Yehoweh. Maybe I could cover up (k-pra from where kippur comes and a play on pra) on behalf (b’ad – substitution) of your Missed-the-mark-sin”.
31: And Moses turns back (shoov) to Yehoweh, “Oh Please (o-na). The people have missed-the-mark-sinned This great miss-the-mark-sin and made a gold god (elohi) for themselves.
32: And now if You lift away the miss-the-mark-sin.
And please, no one blot me from Your book which You have written”.
33: And Yehoweh says to Moses, “ Who(ever) which misses-the-mark-sinned against Me, I blot our from My book.
34: And now, Walk (lek). Lead the people to where I spoke to you. Behold, My Messenger walks (lek) in front (face) of you.
A day I appoint-to-hold-to-account (pakkad).
And I had appointed-to-hold-to-account their miss-the-mark-sin.
35: And Yehoweh plagues (nagaf – what He did to the Egyptians) the/time-of-the (Eth) people over what they did (with) the/time-of-the (Eth) calf which Aaron made.
Pause and think about that!
Prayer: Yehoweh, may I never miss-the-mark by bowing my knee or unloosing myself to my precious belongings – even if I have to wait slightly longer for Your Written Instructions. Let me be attached – ‘levi-ted’ – To You, For You. Amen.
PS
- God-strife/Israel: Moses and Yehoweh lose their tempers and quarrel about whose people and who brought them out of Egypt and Yehoweh apologises! (vv 7,11,14)
- Man-made religion: Though Aaron manufactures religion, he then says that a calf “emerged from the fire” – implying an external ‘divine’ event. (vv 4,24).
- Kafar (covering up) sin involves death – Moses doesn’t want to die while covering up Israel’s sin (vv 32,33) – or we would have been saying moshe = m + ysha!
- Words which direct attention to comparisons:
- tsaka vs Isaac – a people who are amused by God’s strange ways
- Phra vs Pharoah – unloosed from Yehoweh vs from Egypt
- Nagaf – plague: God / Jesus (The Messenger) plagues Egypt then but Israel now
PPS – Happy birthday Moses!
On the day he turned 120, Moses told Israel, (Deut 31:1), sang a farewell song, went up and Yehoweh showed Him the promised land and He died. 30 days of mourning and then The crossing over on the 7th day of the 1st month (Nisan). So, calculating back, his birth and death day is likely 7 Adar which is today – 24 Feb 2026!!
An Ungrammatical Message 
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