Exodus 32:1-35

(1)  When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."

(2)  So Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."

(3)  So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

(4)  And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"

(5)  When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD."

(6)  And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

(7)  And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.

(8)  They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'"

(9)  And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

(10)  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you."

(11)  But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

(12)  Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.

(13)  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'"

(14)  And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

(15)  Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written.

(16)  The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

(17)  When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp."

(18)  But he said, "It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear."

(19)  And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.

(20)  He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.

(21)  And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?"

(22)  And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.

(23)  For they said to me, 'Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

(24)  So I said to them, 'Let any who have gold take it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf."

(25)  And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies),

(26)  then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the LORD's side? Come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.

(27)  And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.'"

(28)  And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.

(29)  And Moses said, "Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day."

(30)  The next day Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."

(31)  So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Alas, this people have sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold.

(32)  But now, if you will forgive their sin--but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written."

(33)  But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.

(34)  But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them."

(35)  Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.

Hebrews 6:1-20

(1)  Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

(2)  and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

(3)  And this we will do if God permits.

(4)  For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,

(5)  and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,

(6)  if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

(7)  For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.

(8)  But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

(9)  Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things--things that belong to salvation.

(10)  For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do.

(11)  And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end,

(12)  so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

(13)  For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,

(14)  saying, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you."

(15)  And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.

(16)  For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.

(17)  So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,

(18)  so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

(19)  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,

(20)  where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

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Posted by Andrea

A truly holy and blessed Christmas to you and yours. :)

Lovingly and always~ Andrea

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