In Exodus 32, the people gave up on Moses since he was up on the mountain so long and they turned to making idols as their gods. Even Aaron joined them and lead them to make a golden calf to worship with sacrificial offerings. God told Moses that He was going to destroy these "stiff-necked" people, but Moses asked God for mercy for them and the Lord relented. When Moses came down the mountain, he carried the two tablets engraved with the writings of God. When he saw the people running wild and dancing around their golden calf idol, he threw the tablets down , breaking them to pieces. Moses then said, "Whoever is for the Lord, come to me." All the Levites rallied to him and he told them that the Lord said "Each man strap a sword to his side and go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, killing his brother, friend, and neighbor". Three thousand people died, but Moses said to them, "You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and He has blessed you this day." Moses told the people that they had committed a great sin against the Lord in worshiping idols, and he went to the Lord to ask for atonement for them. The Lord said he would not blot them out of His book, but "when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin" and they were struck with a plague.