12 he said:Moses, hurry down the mountain to those people you led out of Egypt. They have already disobeyed me and committed the terrible sin of making an idol.
13 I've been watching the Israelites, and I've seen how stubborn and rebellious they are.
14 So don't try to stop me! I am going to wipe them out, and no one on earth will remember they ever lived. Then I will let your descendants become an even bigger and more powerful nation than Israel.
15 Fire was raging on the mountaintop as I went back down, carrying the two stones with the commandments on them.
16 I saw how quickly you had sinned and disobeyed the Lord your God. There you were, worshipping the metal idol you had made in the shape of a calf.
17 So I threw down the two stones and smashed them before your very eyes.
18-20 I bowed down at the place of worship and prayed to the Lord, without eating or drinking for forty days and nights. You had committed a terrible sin by making that idol, and the Lord hated what you had done. He was angry enough to destroy all of you and Aaron as well. So I prayed for you and Aaron as I had done before, and this time the Lord answered my prayers.