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.
21 It was a sin for you to make that idol, so I threw it into the fire to melt it down. Then I took the lump of gold, ground it into powder, and threw the powder into the stream flowing down the mountain.