He told me, “Leave right away. Your people whom you brought out of Egypt have ruined ⌞everything⌟. They’ve quickly turned from the way I commanded them to live. They’ve made an idol for themselves.”
Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day—the day when you left Egypt, the land of slavery. The Lord used his mighty hand to bring you out of there. Don’t eat anything made with yeast.
When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. They said to him, “We don’t know what has happened to this Moses, who led us out of Egypt. Make gods who will lead us.”
“What should I do with you, Ephraim? What should I do with you, Judah? Your love is like fog in the morning. It disappears as quickly as the morning dew.
I know that after I die you will become thoroughly corrupt and turn from the way I have commanded you to live. In the days to come disasters will happen to you because you will make the Lord furious by doing what he considers evil.”
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God used his mighty hand and powerful arm to bring you out of there. This is why the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the day of rest as a holy day.
Then I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made a statue of a calf for yourselves. You had quickly turned from the way the Lord commanded you to live.
I prayed to the Lord and said, “Almighty Lord, don’t destroy your people. They belong to you. You saved them by your great power and used your mighty hand to bring them out of Egypt.
But the people wouldn’t listen to the judges. The Israelites chased after other gods as though they were prostitutes and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors who had obeyed the Lord’s commands. They refused to be like their ancestors.