They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image.
Parallel translations
- KJV They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.
- BSB At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.
- NKJV They made a calf in Horeb, And worshiped the molded image.
- NASB ¶They made a calf in Horeb, And worshiped a cast metal image.
- NLT The people made a calf at Mount Sinai; they bowed before an image made of gold.
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
At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image. It matters because it recalls Israel's grievous descent into idolatry.
Overview
While Moses was on Sinai, Israel made and worshiped the golden calf (Exodus 32:1-6). They broke the covenant they had just received, exchanging the living God for an idol. This rebellion stands as a defining example of the human heart's bent toward false worship.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Exod 32:35Yahweh struck the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
- Exod 32:4–8He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
- Neh 9:18Yes, when they had made themselves a molten calf, and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed awful blasphemies;
- Deut 9:8Also in Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was angry with you to destroy you.
- Acts 7:41They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.
- 1 Cor 10:7Don’t be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
- Deut 9:12–16Yahweh said to me, “Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them. They have made a molten image for themselves!”
- Deut 9:21I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. I threw its dust into the brook that descended out of the mountain.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 106:19 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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