Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold.
Parallel translations
- KJV And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
- BSB So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made gods of gold for themselves.
- NKJV Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold!
- NASB Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves!
- NLT So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a terrible sin these people have committed. They have made gods of gold for themselves.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Moses returns to God and frankly confesses Israel's great sin of idolatry. True intercession does not excuse sin but acknowledges it before God.
Overview
Moses does not minimize the offense but names it as a great sin against the Lord. Honest confession is the necessary ground on which mercy is sought. His intercession models how believers may bring even grievous sin before God, trusting in His mercy rather than denying guilt.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Exod 20:23You shall most certainly not make alongside of me gods of silver, or gods of gold for yourselves.
- Dan 9:11Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, turning aside, that they should not obey your voice: therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us; for we have sinned against him.
- Dan 9:8Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.
- Exod 32:30On the next day, Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin.”
- Ezra 9:15Yahweh, the God of Israel, you are righteous; for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guiltiness; for no one can stand before you because of this.”
- Exod 34:28He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
- Ezra 9:6–7and I said, “My God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our guiltiness has grown up to the heavens.
- Dan 9:5we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances;
- Exod 20:4“You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
- Neh 9:33However you are just in all that has come on us; for you have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly.
- Deut 9:18–19I fell down before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 32:31 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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