Exodus 32:31

And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Moses	מֹשֶׁ֛ה mo.Sheh	H4872	Mosheh · proper noun, a man's name
returned	וַיָּ֧שָׁב vai.Ya.shov	H7725	to turn back (hence · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD	יְהוָ֖ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
said	וַיֹּאמַ֑ר vai.yo.Mar	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Oh	אָ֣נָּ֗א 'a.Na'	H577	oh now! · interjection
people	הָעָ֤ם ha.'Am	H5971	a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
sinned	חָטָ֞א cha.Ta'	H2398	properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
great	גְדֹלָ֔ה ge.do.Lah	H1419	great (in any sense) · adjective, feminine singular absolute
sin	חֲטָאָ֣ה cha.ta.'Ah	H2401	an offence · noun, common feminine singular absolute
made	וַיַּֽעֲשׂ֥וּ vai.ya.'a.Su	H6213	to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
gods	אֱלֹהֵ֥י 'e.lo.Hei	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct
gold	זָהָֽב za.Hav	H2091	gold · noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Exodus 20:23 Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.
Exodus 32:30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradven…
Daniel 9:8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
Daniel 9:11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and…
Exodus 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or th…
Exodus 34:28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the word…
Deuteronomy 9:18-19 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your…
Ezra 9:6-7 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our tresp…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 32:30–end

Moses, having executed justice upon the principal offenders, is here dealing both with the people and with God. I. With the people, to bring them to repentance, Exo 32:30. 1. When some were slain, lest the rest should imagine that, because they were exempt from the capital punishment, they were therefore looked upon as free from guilt, Moses here tells the survivors, You have sinned a great sin, and therefore, though you have escaped this time, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. That they might not think lightly of the sin itself, he calls it a great sin; and that they might not think themselves innocent, because perhaps they were not all so deeply guilty as some of those that…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 32:30

Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin--Moses labored to show the people the heinous nature of their sin, and to bring them to repentance. But not content with that, he hastened more earnestly to intercede for them.

Adam Clarke on Exodus 32:31

Moses returned unto the Lord - Before he went down from the mountain God had acquainted him with the general defection of the people, whereupon he immediately, without knowing the extent of their crime, began to make intercession for them; and God, having given him a general assurance that they should not be cut off, hastened him to go down, and bring them off from their idolatry. Having descended, he finds matters much worse than he expected, and ordered three thousand of the principal delinquents to be slain; but knowing that an evil so extensive must be highly provoking in the sight of the just and holy God, he finds it highly expedient that an atonement be made for the sin: for although…

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John Gill on Exodus 32:31

And Moses returned unto the Lord,.... On the mount where he was in the cloud: and said, oh, this people have sinned a great sin; which to following words explain; he confesses the same to God he had charged the people with in Exodus 32:30, and have made them gods of gold; the golden calf, which they themselves called "Elohim", gods.

The Church Fathers

Moses says to the Lord: «I beg you, Lord; This people has committed a very great sin, because they became gods of gold. And now, if you really forgive their sin, forgive them; but if not, erase me from the book you have written ». In saying this, Moses says it is certain that the reasoning is concluded from what comes next: since God was not going to erase Moses from his book, he should forgive the people that sin. However, we must highlight the seriousness of the evil that Moses had seen in that sin, because he had thought that it could only be expiated with such a great punishment. Because he, who loved them so much, had said such things to God in their favor.
— Augustine of Hippo, QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 147 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Levite — A descendant of the tribe of Levi (Ex. 6:25; Lev. 25:32; Num. 35:2; Josh. 21:3, 41). This name is, however, generally used as the title of that portion of the tribe which was set apart for the…
Levites — (descendants of Levi). Sometimes the name extends to the whole tribe, the priests included, (Exodus 6:25; Leviticus 25:32; Numbers 35:2; Joshua 21:3,41) etc; sometimes only to those members of the…
Pentateuch — The five-fold volume, consisting of the first five books of the Old Testament. This word does not occur in Scripture, nor is it certainly known when the roll was thus divided into five portions…
Atonement, Under The Law · Extraordinary cases of — Extraordinary cases of
Boldness, Holy · Exemplified: Moses — Exemplified: Moses
Calf Of Gold · Making of: A very great sin — Making of: A very great sin
Intercession · EXEMPLIFIED — EXEMPLIFIED
Sins, National · Ministers should: Pray for forgiveness of — Ministers should: Pray for forgiveness of
Zeal, Religious · EXEMPLIFIE — EXEMPLIFIE

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Exodus 32:31

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 32:30–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 32:30

Adam Clarke on Exodus 32:31

John Gill on Exodus 32:31

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Exodus 32:31

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 32:30–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 32:30

Adam Clarke on Exodus 32:31

John Gill on Exodus 32:31

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Exodus 32:31-32

Keil & Delitzsch on Exodus 32:30-34

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Exodus 32:30-35

Rashi on Exodus 32:31