They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
Parallel Translations
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They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
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And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
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And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to make merry.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Exodus 32:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Corinthians 10:7 Don’t be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
- Numbers 25:2 for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods.
- Acts 7:41-42 They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. But God turned, and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
- Exodus 32:17-19 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is the noise of war in the camp.” He said, “It isn’t the voice of those who shout for victory. It is not the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing that I hear.” As soon as he came near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then Moses’ anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain.
- Exodus 24:4-5 Moses wrote all Yahweh’s words, then rose up early in the morning and built an altar at the base of the mountain, with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. He sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of cattle to Yahweh.
- Judges 16:23-25 The lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.” When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, “Our god has delivered our enemy and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us, into our hand.” When their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson, that he may entertain us.” They called for Samson out of the prison; and he performed before them. They set him between the pillars;
- Amos 2:8 and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.
- Amos 8:10 I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
- Revelation 11:10 Those who dwell on the earth rejoice over them, and they will be glad. They will give gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 32:6 And they rose up early on the…
Exo 32:6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
Ver. 6. Rose up to play.] To dance about the calf. Now, if they were so cheered and strengthened by those baneful bits, those murdering morsels; should not we much more by God’s spiritual provisions, to dance as David did, to do his work with all our might
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Brought peace-offerings, but no sin-offerings, which they most needed.
Brought peace-offerings, but no sin-offerings, which they most needed.
The people sat down to eat and to drink; for the sacrifices were accompanied with feasting, both among the worshippers of the true God, and among idolaters. See Exo 18:12; 24:11.
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Rose up to play, by shouting, and singing, and dancing, as it appears from Exo 32:17-19
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain And they rose up early on the morrow, and…
And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered sacrifice to this new made deity. And the people sat down to eat and drink of the remainder of what was sacrificed, and then rose up to play - To play the fool, to play the wanton. It was strange that any of the people, especially so great a number of them, should do such a thing. Had they not, but the other day, in this very place, heard the voice of the Lord God speaking to them out of the midst of the fire, Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image? - Yet They made a calf in Horeb, the very place where the law was given It was especially strange that Aaron should be so deeply concerned, should make the calf and proclaim the feast! Is this Aaron the saint of the Lord! Is this he that had not only seen, but had been employed in summoning the plagues of Egypt, and the judgments executed upon the gods of the Egyptians? What! And yet himself copying out the abandoned idolatries of Egypt? How true is it, that the law made them priests which had infirmity, and needed first to offer for their own sins?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. The people sat down to eat and…
Verse 6. The people sat down to eat and to drink] The burnt-offerings were wholly consumed; the peace-offerings, when the blood bad been poured out, became the food of the priests, c. When therefore the strictly religious part of these ceremonies was finished, the people sat down to eat of the peace-offerings, and this they did merely as the idolaters, eating and drinking to excess. And it appears they went much farther, for it is said they rose up to play, לצחק letsachek, a word of ominous import, which seems to imply here fornicating and adulterous intercourse and in some countries the verb to play is still used precisely in this sense. In this sense the original is evidently used, Ge 39:14.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 32:6. They rose up early — To show…
Exo 32:6. They rose up early — To show their zeal they began betimes in the morning, and seem not to have stayed for Aaron; and offered burnt- offerings, &c. — To this new-made image of Deity. And the people sat down to eat and drink — Of the remainder of what was sacrificed; and then rose up to play — To play the fool, to play the wanton. It was strange that any of the people, especially so great a number of them, should do such a thing. Had they not, but the other day, in this very place, heard the voice of the Lord God speaking to them out of the midst of the fire, “Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image?” Yet they made a calf in Horeb, the very place where the law was given! It was especially strange that Aaron should be so deeply concerned, should make the calf, and proclaim the feast! Is this “Aaron the saint of the Lord?” Is this he that had not only seen, but had been employed in summoning the plagues of Egypt, and the judgments executed upon the gods of the Egyptians? What! and yet himself copying out the abandoned idolatries of Egypt? How true is it, that “the law made them priests which had infirmity, and needed first to offer for their own sins!”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain They offered, by the hands of Aaron, to whom…
They offered, by the hands of Aaron, to whom the Septuagint refer all this. "He offered," &c., appearing at the head of the idolaters. Cornelius a Lapide insinuates, that he wished to supplant his brother in the supreme command; and after a faint resistance, became the promoter of idolatry, to ingratiate himself with the people. The Scripture lays not this, however, to his charge. (Calmet) --- To eat of the victims. --- To play, dancing and singing in honour of their idol, probably with many indecent gestures, as was customary on such occasions among the nations of Chanaan. (Haydock) --- Tertullian (de jejunio) understands impure play. The word means also to dance, and to play on instruments of music. Ludere quæ vellem calamo permisit agresti. (Virgil, Eclogues i) (Calmet) --- Sulpitius says, the people abandoned themselves to drunkenness and gluttony, or debauchery, vinoque se & ventri dedisset. (Haydock) --- They might get wine from Madian. (Salien.) --- Foolish mirth is the daughter of gluttony, and the mother of idolatry. (St. Gregory, Mor. xxxi. 31.) (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. Rose up early — It was to be…
6. Rose up early — It was to be a day of festivity and joy, and they were eager to begin it early.
Burnt offerings, and… peace offerings — See note on Exo_20:24.
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Sat down to eat and to drink — Usual words for hilarious feasting. They ate, as was customary, of the flesh of the peace offerings. What they drank is not said, but we most naturally suppose wine, which was so common at jovial feasts.
Rose up to play — Comp, Exo_32:19; Exo_32:25. The meaning most probably is, that from feasting they proceeded to lewd forms of dancing. See note on Gen_21:9, and compare Herodotus’s account of the rude sports of the Egyptians at certain religious festivals. (Herod., 2:60.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. burnt offerings and peace offerings] Cf. on Exo_20:24.
6. burnt offerings and peace offerings] Cf. on Exo_20:24.
to eat and to drink] i.e. to take part in the sacred meal accompanying the peace-offering; cf. on Exo_18:12.
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to play] to amuse themselves, e.g. by singing and dancing, vv. 18, 19. Comp. the quotation in 1Co_10:7.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) They rose up early.—Impatient to begin the new…
(6) They rose up early.—Impatient to begin the new worship, the people rose with the dawn, and brought offerings, and offered sacrifice. Whether Aaron took part in these acts—which constituted the actual worship of the idol—is left doubtful.
Burnt offerings, and . . . peace offerings.—Sacrifices of both kinds were pre-Mosaical, not first originated by the Law, though deriving confirmation from it. Offerings of both kinds are noticed in Gen_4:3-4; Exo_18:12.
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The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.—A feast always followed a sacrifice (see Exo_18:12; Exo_24:5; Exo_24:11). In feasting therefore upon what they had offered, the Israelites did no wrong; but probably they indulged themselves in a license of feasting unsuited to a religious act, though common enough in the idol-festivals of the heathen. They “fed without fear” (Jud_1:12), transgressed the bounds of moderation, and turned what should have been a religious rite into an orgy. Then, having gratified their appetites and stimulated their passions, they ceased to eat and drink, and “rose up to play.” The “play” included dancing of an indecent kind (Exo_32:19; Exo_32:25), and would probably have terminated, as the heathen orgies too often did, in the grossest sensualism, had not the descent of Moses from Sinai, and his appearance on the scene, put a stop to the unhallowed doings.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain They rose up early on the morrow. The people…
They rose up early on the morrow. The people were like a child with a new toy. They could scarcely sleep for thinking of it. So, as soon as it was day, they left their beds, and hastened to begin the new worship Burnt offerings and peace offerings. It is evident that both of these were customary forms of sacrifice neither of them first introduced by the Law, which had not except so far as the "Book of the Covenant" was concerned been promulgated. Compare Jethro"s offerings. (Exo_18:12) The people sat down to eat and drink. A feast almost always followed upon a sacrifice, only certain portions of the victim being commonly burnt, while the rest was consumed by the offerers. See the comment on Exo_18:3. And rose up to play. This "play" was scarcely of a harmless kind. The sensualism of idol-worship constantly led on to sensuality; and the feasts upon idol-sacrifices terminated in profligate orgies of a nature which cannot be described. See the application of the passage by St. Paul in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, (1Co_10:7) and compare verse 25.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 32:6 The Hebrew term translated pagan revelry is traditionally…
32:6 The Hebrew term translated pagan revelry is traditionally rendered they got up to play. As in English, the Hebrew word for play can have sexual overtones (see Gen 26:8, “caressing”), which is likely the case here. Worship of a fertility symbol such as a bull was often accompanied by sexual activities on the part of the worshipers (see 1 Cor 10:7-8).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.