19 Bible Verses about Calf worship

When the people saw that Moses took a long time to come down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and told him, "Come here and make us a god who will go before us, because, as for this fellow Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him." Aaron told them, "Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me." All the people tore off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to him. read more.
He took them from them and, using a tool, fashioned them into a molten calf. The people said, "This, Israel, is your god who brought you out of the land of Egypt."

The LORD told Moses, "Go down immediately, because your people whom you led out of Egypt have behaved corruptly. They have been quick to turn aside from the way I commanded them, and they have made for themselves a molten calf. They have bowed down to it in worship, they have offered sacrifices to it, and they have said, "This, Israel, is your god who brought you out of the land of Egypt.'"

They fashioned a calf at Horeb and worshipped a carved image. They exchanged their glory with the image of a grass-eating bull. They forgot God their Savior, who performed great things in Egypt read more.
awesome deeds in the land of Ham, astonishing deeds at the Reed Sea.

"At that time they even made a calf to be their idol, offered a sacrifice to it, and delighted in what they had made with their hands.

As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he became angry. He threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the base of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, and ground it into powder. He scattered it on the water and made the Israelis drink it.

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

Then I saw how you had really sinned against the LORD your God! You had made for yourselves a calf, a cast idol. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD your God had commanded. So I grabbed the two tablets and then threw them out of my hands, breaking them before your eyes. I fell down in the LORD's presence, just as I had the first 40 days and nights. I did not eat food or drink water because of your sin. You had sinned by committing this evil in the sight of the LORD, thereby provoking him to anger. read more.
I feared the anger and wrath of the LORD against you, because he was irate enough to destroy you. But the LORD also listened to me at that time. It was as had been the case with Aaron, the LORD was very angry and about to destroy him, but I prayed for Aaron at that time. Now, when you made the calf that made you sin, I grabbed it, burned it with fire, crushed it, and ground it thoroughly until it was pulverized to powder. Then I threw the powder into the river that was flowing from the mountain."

He would have destroyed them but for Moses, his chosen one, who stood in the breach before him to avert his destructive wrath.

Jeroboam was thinking to himself, "The kingdom is about to return to David's control. If these people keep going up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the LORD there, the hearts of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. Then they'll kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah!" So the king sought some advice and then built two golden calves and announced, "It's too difficult for you to travel to Jerusalem. So here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!" read more.
He set one of them in Bethel and placed the other one in Dan. Doing this was sinful, because the people traveled as far as Dan to appear before one of their idols.

They rejected the LORD's statutes, the covenant that he had made with their ancestors, and his warnings that he gave them. They pursued meaninglessness and became meaningless themselves as they followed the lifestyles of the nations that surrounded them, a practice that the LORD had warned them not to do. They abandoned all of the commands given by the LORD their God, crafted for themselves cast images of two calves, constructed an Asherah, worshipped all of the stars in heaven, and served Baal.

because the descendants of Levi left their pasture lands and their property to live in Judah and Jerusalem, since Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from participating in priestly services to the LORD. Jeroboam had appointed his own priests to serve at the high places and to serve the satyrs and calves that he had made.

"So now you think you'll be able to withstand the LORD's kingdom as controlled by David's descendants, just because you have a large crown and have brought with you the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods.

As a result, the LORD was angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. No one was left except for the tribe of Judah. But Judah, too, did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. Instead, they lived the lifestyle that Israel had chosen, so the LORD rejected all of the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and handed them over to the control of plunderers until he had thrown them away from his presence. read more.
He ripped them away from the heritage of David, even as the people appointed Nebat's son Jeroboam to be king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them commit great sin. The Israelis practiced all the sins that Jeroboam had practiced, and never wavered from them until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, just as he had warned through all of his prophets who served him. So Israel was carried off into exile from their own land into Assyria, where they remain to this day. Because the king of Assyria brought captives from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sephar-vaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria to replace the Israelis, the settlers possessed Samaria and lived in its cities. When they first began to live there, the settlers did not fear the LORD, so he sent lions among them, and they killed a few of them. As a result, they reported to the king of Assyria, "Because the nations whom you exiled to live in the cities of Samaria don't know the law of the god of the land, he has sent lions among them. Look how the lions are killing them, because they don't know the law of the god of the land!" So the king of Assyria issued this order: "Take one of the priests whom you carried away and let him go back and live there. Let him teach them the law of the god of the land." So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria went to live in Bethel to teach them how they ought to fear the LORD.

They set kings in place, but not by me. They established princes, whom I did not recognize. They crafted idols for themselves from their silver and gold; as a result, they will be destroyed. Your calf, Samaria, has been thrown away. My anger is burning against them. How long until they become pure again? Because from Israel it was fashioned by craftsmen, it is not God; therefore Samaria's calf will be broken in pieces.read more.
"Because they sow the wind, they will reap the wind storm. The plant has no stalk and its bud yields no grain. Even if there's a harvest, foreigners will gobble it up. Israel has been devoured; now they will live among the nations like a worthless container. "Because they went over to Assyria, they are like a wild donkey alone by itself. Ephraim has hired some lovers.

"The residents of Samaria will be terrified because of the cows of Beth-aven. Its people will mourn over Beth-aven, along with the priests who will mourn its glory, because that glory has departed. Indeed, that glory will be carried to Assyria it will become a present for an avenging king. Ephraim will be disgraced, and Israel will become ashamed of its decision.

Burn the images of their gods in the fire. Desire neither the silver nor the gold that adorns them, nor take them for yourselves, so you won't be ensnared by them, because the gold and silver is detestable to the LORD your God.

Now, all the forming of images means nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their own witnesses cannot see, and they know nothing. So they will be put to shame. Who would shape a god or cast an image that profits nothing? To be sure, all who associate with it will be put to shame; and as for the craftsmen, they are only human. Let them all gather together and take their stand. Then let them be terrified they will be humiliated together.read more.
The blacksmith prepares a tool and works in the coals, then fashions an idol with hammers, working by the strength of his arm. He even becomes hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint. The carpenter measures it with a line; he traces its shape with a stylus, then fashions it with planes and shapes it with a compass. He makes the idol like a human figure, with human beauty, to be at home in a shrine. He cuts down cedars, or chooses a cypress tree or an oak, and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. Or he plants a cedar, and the rain makes it grow. He divides it up for people to burn. Taking part of it, he warms himself, makes a fire, and bakes bread. Or perhaps he constructs a god and worships it. He makes it an idol and bows down to it. Half the wood he burns in the fire, and over that half he places meat so he can eat. He sits by its coals, warms himself, and says, "Ah! I am warm in front of the fire." And the rest of it he makes into a god. To blocks of wood he bows down, worships, prays, and says, "Save me, since you are my god." They don't realize; they don't understand, because their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds, too, so they cannot understand. No one stops to think. No one has the knowledge or understanding to think yes to think! "Half of it I burned in the fire. I even baked bread on its coals, and I roasted meat and ate it. And am I about to make detestable things from what is left? Am I about to bow down to blocks of wood?" He tends ashes. A deceived mind has lead him astray. It cannot be his life, nor can he say, "There's a lie in my right hand."

Those who pour out gold in a purse, weigh silver in a balance, hire a goldsmith in order to make a god, and then they bow down and even worship it. And they lift it on their shoulders, carry it, set it up in its place, and there it stands. It cannot move from that spot. One may even call to it, but it cannot answer nor save him from his distress.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Though claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that looked like mortal human beings, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.