And he took the calf probably means that Moses “seized” the bull-calf, since he was very angry. Which they had made refers to the people, not just to Aaron. And burnt it with fire is exactly what the Hebrew says, but since it was made of gold, Good News Translation has “melted it.” New American Bible has “he fused it.” And ground it to powder is literally “and he ground until [it was] fine.” The word for ground is used for grinding grain in a mill. The word for powder is used in 16.14 to describe how fine the manna was, so Good News Translation has “fine powder.”

This reference to burning, grinding, and scattering has caused some scholars to believe the calf was really made of wood and only covered with gold, since gold cannot be burned. Others say that gold is too soft to be ground into powder. But these terms are meant to describe total destruction. The expression in fact may have been borrowed from an ancient Canaanite myth where the goddess Anat destroys the god Mot by burning, grinding, and scattering him.

And scattered it upon the water is literally “and he scattered it upon the face of the waters.” The source of the water is not indicated, but Deut 9.21 suggests it came from a mountain brook. Good News Translation says that he “mixed it with water,” but this changes the picture, which in the Hebrew is that of scattering the gold powder like sowing seed. And made the people of Israel drink it probably refers to all the Israelites. This was certainly a form of punishment, but it was also probably an ancient form of trial, in order to find out who were the guilty ones. (See Num 5.16-22.) Verse 35 may give the results of this “trial by ordeal.” (See the comment there.)

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .