وَإِذْ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ يَا قَوْمِ إِنَّكُمْ ظَلَمْتُمْ أَنفُسَكُم بِاتِّخَاذِكُمُ الْعِجْلَ فَتُوبُوا إِلَىٰ بَارِئِكُمْ فَاقْتُلُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ عِندَ بَارِئِكُمْ فَتَابَ عَلَيْكُمْ ۚ إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ
Wa iz qaala Moosaa li qawmihee yaa qawmi innakum zalamtum anfusakum bittikhaa zikumul 'ijla fatooboo ilaa baari'ikum faqtuloo anfusakum; zaalikum khayrul lakum 'inda baari'ikum fataaba 'alaykum; innahoo huwat Tawwaabur Raheem
And when Musa said to his people, "My people, you have wronged yourselves by taking the calf. So turn back to your Maker in repentance and put yourselves to death — that is better for you in the sight of your Maker." Then he turned to you in mercy. Indeed, he is the Ever-Relenting, the Most Merciful.
The command to put themselves to death is among the passage's hardest lines, and the tradition read it more than one way. Some took it literally, as an execution carried out within the community; others read anfusakum as one another, and a strand of later commentary read it as the killing of the lower self that had wanted the calf. The verse ends on relenting, whichever reading is taken.