According to Exodus, the Israelites made and worshipped a golden calf while Moses was on Mount Sinai.
In the narrative, Moses remains on the mountain for an extended period while receiving the covenant instructions. The people ask Aaron to make a visible god to lead them, and Aaron collects their gold jewelry. He fashions the material into a calf, and the Israelites hold a celebration around it.
Moses descends carrying the stone tablets and sees the worship. In anger, he breaks the tablets, destroys the calf, and challenges the people’s disobedience. Exodus then describes a renewed covenant after the episode.
The golden calf is often confused with the bronze serpent made later in Numbers. The bronze serpent was associated with healing after poisonous snake bites, whereas the golden calf represents the Israelites’ breach of the covenant at Sinai.