So Moses returned to his people, furious and sorrowful. He said, “O my people! Had your Lord not made you a good promise?1 Has my absence been too long for you? Or have you wished for wrath from your Lord to befall you, so you broke your promise to me?”2
They argued, “We did not break our promise to you of our own free will, but we were made to carry the burden of the people’s ˹golden˺ jewellery,1 then we threw it ˹into the fire˺, and so did the Sâmiri.”
Then he moulded for them an idol of a calf that made a lowing sound. They said, “This is your god and the god of Moses, but Moses forgot ˹where it was˺!”
Aaron had already warned them beforehand, “O my people! You are only being tested by this, for indeed your ˹one true˺ Lord is the Most Compassionate. So follow me and obey my orders.”
