rs of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring
them to me."

And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their
ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received the gold at their
hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf:
and they said, "These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up
out of the land of Egypt."

And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made
proclamation, and said, "To-morrow shall be a feast to the Lord."

And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and
brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink,
and rose up to play.

{205}{206}

[Illustration]
HILL OF THE GOLDEN CALF (JEBEL AARON) AND ITS MOSLEM
TOWER BELOW THE RIDGE OF SINAI

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood and used by special permission.

A traveler writes: "We started to descend by the gorge on the
northeast side of the mountain (Jethro's Path), by which possibly
Moses may have descended when he heard the sounds of the camp before
he could see what was taking place there. We were completely shut in
by the sides of the gorge until just as we emerged near the bottom.
There was no sound below for us to hear, but we could readily accept
Mr. Palmeston's statement that he had distinctly heard the sounds of
his own camp at the foot of the mountain which was entirely hidden
from view. If the worship of the golden calf be supposed to have
taken place anywhere in the neighborhood of the hill of Aaron this
circumstance would be in striking conformity with the several other
facts which singularly adapt this place to be the scene of the
lawgiving."
[End illustration]

{207}

And the Lord spoke unto Moses, "Go, get thee down; for thy people,
which thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted
themselves: they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I
commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshiped
it, and have sacrificed unto it, and said, 'These are thy gods, O
Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'"

And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and, behold, it
is a stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may
grow hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of
thee a great nation."

And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, "Lord, why doth thy
wrath grow ho