12 Then the Lord told me, “Get up. Go down quickly from here. The people you brought out from Egypt are ruining themselves. They have quickly turned away from what I commanded. They have made an idol for themselves.”
13 The Lord said to me, “I have watched these people. They are very stubborn!
14 Get away. I will destroy them. I will make the whole world forget who they are. Then I will make another nation from you. It will be bigger and stronger than they are.”
15 So I turned and came down the mountain. The mountain was burning with fire. And the two stone tablets with the agreement were in my hands.
16 When I looked, I saw you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made an idol in the shape of a calf. You had quickly turned away from what the Lord had told you to do.
17 So I took the two stone tablets and threw them down. I broke them into pieces right in front of you.
18 Then I again bowed facedown on the ground before the Lord. I did this for 40 days and 40 nights. I did not eat bread or drink water. You had sinned by doing what the Lord said was evil. You made him angry.