I was listening to Exodus today and 32:24 sounded a bit funny.  So, I looked at the Hebrew and compared a few translations.  Sure enough … Aaron sounds like a weasel.  Moses comes down from the mountain and finds the people with their golden calf.  And, here is Aaron’s response (translation comparison a cut and paste from BibleWorks 8):

So I told them, ‘Let anyone who has gold jewelry take it off.’ They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.” (Exodus 32:24 New American Bible)

“I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” (Exodus 32:24 New American Standard)

So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” (Exodus 32:24 New Revised Standard)

Notice Aaron doesn’t say anything about fashioning the calf.  He threw the gold in and a calf popped out.  Right … Maybe I’ll use that one next time I order something from Amazon without discussing it with my wife first.  “No, sweetheart.  I just punched in my credit card number for them to save on file and this book showed up.”

Related:

Genesis 1.1 and the Importance of Comparing Translations

Psalm 1.1 – Translation Comparison

Isaiah 41 – An Interesting Translation Issue

An Ancient of Days or The Ancient of Days: Does it Really Matter?