Psalm 106:19

Modern

At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.

Traditional

They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.

Literal

They made a calf in Horeb, and they bowed down to a molten image.

Latin

Et fecerunt vitulum in Horeb, et adoraverunt sculptile.

Hebrew

English

At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.

they … worshiped a molten image: The people forgot their Savior and worshiped idols (see Exodus 32:1–6).

The Israelite community in exile confessed the Lord’s goodness and justice and their own past sins. From their humble state in exile, they asked for redemption and restoration. They hoped to be gathered back from all the places the Lord had scattered them in his anger.
The psalm ends with a memory of the Lord’s past mercy and hope for renewed mercy (Psalm 106:44–48). Israel failed, but the Lord remains constant.
Verses 1, 47–48 (along with Psalms 96; 105:1–15) are included in David’s song of praise recorded in 1 Chronicles 16:1–43.

Theme notes and profiles

Exodus 32:4–8
He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
Exodus 32:35
And the LORD sent a plague on the people because of what they had done with the calf that Aaron had made.
Nehemiah 9:18
Even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and when they committed terrible blasphemies,
Deuteronomy 9:12–16
And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten image.”
Deuteronomy 9:8
At Horeb you provoked the LORD, and He was angry enough to destroy you.
Deuteronomy 9:21
And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it into the stream that came down from the mountain.
Acts 7:41
At that time they made a calf and offered a sacrifice to the idol, rejoicing in the works of their hands.
1 Corinthians 10:7
Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”

Sinai: Mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments