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Exodus 32:35

in Exodus 32

And the LORD sent a plague on the people because of what they had done with the calf that Aaron had made.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And Jehovah smote the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

KJV

And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

This verse in Exodus 32

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The Lord plagued the people - Every time they transgressed afterwards Divine justice seems to have remembered this transgression against them. The Jews have a metaphorical saying, apparently founded on this text: “No affliction has ever happened to Israel in which there was not some particle of the dust of the golden calf.” 1. The attentive reader has seen enough in this chapter to induce him to exclaim, How soon a clear sky may be overcast! How soon may the brightest prospects be obscured!

This site's exposition

mine Angel shall go before thee

on Exodus 32:34-35

God sends an angel before them, which is what verse 1 had demanded when the people asked for gods to go before us, and Moses refuses the substitute at 33:12 through 16 and asks for the presence itself. The visitation is deferred rather than cancelled, since in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. The chapter's last words put the calf on Aaron, because they made the calf, which Aaron made, and Aaron is still the man who wears the ephod in chapter 39.

This site's exposition

the LORD sent a plague on the people

The plague fell on the people for the calf that Aaron had made, after Moses had pleaded for their sin in verses 31 and 32. Verse 34 had said the LORD would punish their sin. Adam Clarke cites a Jewish saying that every later affliction of Israel carries some dust of the golden calf.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Salvian the Presbyter

THE GOVERNANCE OF GOD 1.11.48 · Written before 500.

proposed

Thus is it written: "The Lord therefore struck the people for their guilt on the occasion of the calf which Aaron had made." What greater and more manifest judgment could God have made regarding sinners than that punishment immediately follow their sins? Yet, since all …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Those are angry and sin not, that are angry at sin only. Moses shewed himself angry, both by breaking the tables, and burning the calf, that he might by these expressions of a strong passion awaken the people to a sense of the greatness of their sin.
And the Lord plagued the people,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf--No immediate judgments were inflicted, but this early lapse into idolatry was always mentioned as an aggravation of their subsequent apostasies.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The words behind it

12 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיִּגֹּ֥ףand he struck

    vaiyigofH506249 times

  • יְהוָ֖הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הָעָ֑םthe people

    haamH59711873 times

  • עַ֚לon

    ʾalH59215755 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רthat

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • עָשׂ֣וּthey had made

    ʾasuH62132628 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הָעֵ֔גֶלthe calf

    haegelH569535 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich

    ʾasherH8345497 times

  • עָשָׂ֖הhe had made

    ʾasahH62132628 times

  • אַהֲרֹֽן׃ סAaron

    ʾaharonH175347 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Exodus 32:4

    He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of…

    it leads to

    • Nehemiah 9:18

      Even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and when they committed terrible blasphemies,

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Kings 12:28

      After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out…

    • Acts 7:41

      At that time they made a calf and offered a sacrifice to the idol, rejoicing in the works of their hands.

    • Deuteronomy 9:16

      And I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

    • Exodus 32:8

      How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said,…

  • Through

    Acts 1:18

    (Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong and burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out.

    it leads to

    • Matthew 27:3–10

      When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.

  • Through

    Acts 7:41

    At that time they made a calf and offered a sacrifice to the idol, rejoicing in the works of their hands.

    it leads to

  • Through

    Exodus 32:25

    Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them run wild and become a laughingstock to their enemies.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 47:3

      Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”

Where this verse is studied

About Exodus

Moses Breaks the Tables of the Law — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Moses Breaks the Tables of the Law — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Salvian the Presbyter, THE GOVERNANCE OF GOD 1.11.48.