1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
The people became impatient waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain, so they all gathered together and said to Aaron,
Get up and make us some gods. [1]
Because Moses is gone and we don't know what's become of him.
2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
Aaron said,
Bring me your gold earrings.
3And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
So everyone gave him their earrings.
4And 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.
And Aaron made a molten calf.
The people said,
These are the gods that brought us out of Egypt.
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
Aaron built an altar and said,
Tomorrow is a feast day to the Lord.
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.
So the next day, they got up early to make offerings. Then they ate, drank and played.
7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
God said to Moses
Go down the mountain, because the people have made a golden calf.
Moses talks God out of killing everyone
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
God said to Moses,
I've seen these people. They are stiff-necked.
10 Now therefore ,let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
Let me alone, so I can get really angry and kill them all.
11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
Moses said,
Why are you so angry?
If you kill all the people, the Egyptians will say that you brought them out of Egypt just to kill them.
You should repent from the evil that you've planned to do.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
Remember your promises to multiply the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
And God repented of the evil he planned to do. [2]
Moses breaks the stone tablets
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
After God repented, Moses went down the mountain with the two two-sided stone tablets that God had written.
17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
When Joshua heard the people's noise, he thought there was a war. (It turned out to be singing.)
19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
When Moses saw the people dancing naked (for Aaron had made them naked) around Aaron's golden calf, he smashed the stone tablets, burned the golden calf (gold doesn't burn), ground it into powder, and then forced it down the throats of all the people. [3]
32:21-24
21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
Moses said to Aaron,
What did the people do to you that caused you to make them to sin so badly?
22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
Aaron said,
Don't be angry. You know how bad these people are.
23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
They said to me, "Make us gods, because we don't know what has become of Moses."
24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
So I said,
Give me your gold.
They gave me their gold, I threw it in the fire, and out came this golden calf.
God forces people to kill their family, friends, and neighbors
25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)
26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
When Moses saw that the people were naked (for Aaron had made them naked), he said,
Who is on God's side?
The Levites came to Moses and said, "We are."
27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
Moses said,
Here is what God says,
Let every man get his sword and kill his brother, friend, and neighbor. [4]
28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29 For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.
And the Levites did as they were told, killing 3000 men.
31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
Moses said to God
If you won't forgive the people's sin, blot me out of your book.
The Lord plagued the people
33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
God said to Moses,
I will blot out of my book anyone who has sinned against me.
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.
Go, lead the people to the place I told you about. My angel will go before you.
When I visit, I'll punish the people.
35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
And God plagued the people because of the calf that Aaron made. [5]
In case it's confusing where the Levites came from, they were a part of the children of Israel (one of the Biblically famous 12 tribes) who escaped Egypt. They are descendants of Levi, who was the son of Jacob. They more or less blended into the story up to this point, but certainly made their appearance known through their slaughter of 3000 people.