Exodus 32 · Verse 35

Exodus 32:35

And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
Exodus 32:35, King James Version

Exodus 32:35 in other translations

BSBAnd the LORD sent a plague on the people because of what they had done with the calf that Aaron had made.
WEBThe LORD struck the people, because of what they did with the calf, which Aaron made.
ASVAnd Jehovah smote the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
YLTAnd Jehovah plagueth the people, because they made the calf which Aaron made.
DARBYAnd Jehovah smote the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron had made.
BBEAnd the Lord sent punishment on the people because they gave worship to the ox which Aaron made.
WebsterAnd the LORD afflicted the people, because they made the calf which Aaron made.

What does Exodus 32:35 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
35. 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.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 35 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! Israel had just ratified its covenant with Jehovah, and had received the most encouraging and unequivocal pledges of his protection and love. But they sinned, and provoked the Lord to depart from them, and to destroy the work of his hands. A little more faith, patience, and perseverance, and they should have been safely brought into the promised land. For want of a little more dependence upon God, how often does an excellent beginning come to an unhappy conclusion! Many who were just on the borders of the promised land, and about to cross Jordan, have, through an act of unfaithfulness, been turned back to wander many a dreary year in the wilderness. Reader, be on thy guard. Trust in Christ, and watch unto prayer. 2. Many people have been greatly distressed on losing their baptismal register, and have been reduced in consequence to great political inconvenience. But still they had their lives, and should a living man complain? But a man may so sin as to provoke God to cut him off; or, like a fruitless tree, be cut down, because he encumbers the ground. Or he may have sinned a sin unto death, 1Jn 5:16, 1Jn 5:17, that is, a sin which God will punish with temporal death, while he extends mercy to the soul. 3. With respect to the blotting out of God's book, on which there has been so much controversy, Is it not evident that a soul could not be blotted out of a book in which it had never been written? And is it not farther evident from Exo 32:32, Exo 32:33, that, although a man be written in God's book, if he sins he may be blotted out? Let him that readeth understand; and let him that standeth take heed lest he fall. Reader, be not high-minded, but fear. See Clarke's note on Exo 32:32, and See Clarke's note on Exo 32:33.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Exodus 32:30-35

Moses calls it a great sin. The work of ministers is to show people the greatness of their sins. The great evil of sin appears in the price of pardon. Moses pleads with God for mercy; he came not to make excuses, but to make atonement. We are not to suppose that Moses means that he would be willing to perish for ever, for the people's sake. We are to love our neighbour as ourselves, and not more than ourselves. But…

Read the full comment on Exodus 32:30-35 →

Exodus 32:35 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיִּגֹּ֥ףvai.yi.Gofand he struckH5062
יְהוָ֖הYah.wehYahwehH3068
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
הָעָ֑םha.'Amthe peopleH5971
עַ֚ל'alonH5921
אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.SherthatH834
עָשׂ֣וּ'a.Suthey had madeH6213
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
הָעֵ֔גֶלha.'E.gelthe calfH5695
אֲשֶׁ֥ר'a.SherwhichH834
עָשָׂ֖ה'a.Sahhe had madeH6213
אַהֲרֹֽן\׃\ \ס'a.ha.RonAaronH175

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Exodus 32:35

  • 2 Samuel 12:9-10

    Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

  • Acts 7:41

    And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

  • Exodus 32:4

    And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

  • Matthew 27:3-7

    Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. …

  • Exodus 32:25

    And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)

  • Acts 1:18

    Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
25; 2Sa 12:9,10; Mt 27:3-7; Ac 1:18; 7:41

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Exodus 32:34

    Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.

  • Exodus 32:35

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

Read all of Exodus 32

Exodus 32:35 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y Jehová hirió al pueblo, porque habían hecho el becerro que formó Aarón.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et l’ Éternel frappa le peuple, parce qu’ils avaient fait le veau qu’Aaron avait fait.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und Jehova schlug das Volk, darum daß sie das Kalb gemacht, welches Aaron gemacht hatte.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Percussit ergo Dominus populum pro reatu vituli, quem fecerat Aaron.