وَٱتَّخَذَ قَوْمُ مُوسَىٰ مِنۢ بَعْدِهِۦ مِنْ حُلِيِّهِمْ عِجْلًا جَسَدًا لَّهُۥ خُوَارٌ ۚ أَلَمْ يَرَوْا۟ أَنَّهُۥ لَا يُكَلِّمُهُمْ وَلَا يَهْدِيهِمْ سَبِيلًا ۘ ٱتَّخَذُوهُ وَكَانُوا۟ ظَـٰلِمِينَ
Wattakhaza qawmu Moosaa mim ba'dihee min huliyyihim 'ijlan jasadal lahoo khuwaar; alam yaraw annahoo laa yukallimuhum wa laa yahdeehim sabeelaa; ittakha zoohu wa kaanoo zaalimeen
Dan kaum Musa, setelah kepergian Musa ke (gunung Ṭūrsīnā`) membuat dari perhiasan-perhiasan (emas) mereka anak lembu yang bertubuh dan bersuara. Apakah mereka tidak mengetahui bahwa anak lembu itu tidak dapat berbicara dengan mereka dan tidak dapat (pula) menunjukkan jalan kepada mereka? Mereka menjadikannya (sebagai sembahan) dan mereka adalah orang-orang yang zalim.
After Musa had gone, his people took for themselves, out of their ornaments, a calf — a body that lowed. Did they not see that it could not speak to them or guide them on any path? They took it up, and they were wrongdoers.
Three verses earlier the tablets are described as an admonition and a detailing of every matter, one thing that speaks and one that directs, and the calf is measured here against exactly those two. Khuwār is the particular word for a bull's low, so what the crowd took for a voice was an animal noise. The metal was their own jewellery, which means the god was assembled out of what they already owned.