Deuteronomy 9:16
And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you. And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you.
The fashioning of a molten calf was rebellion against the Lord, a quick turning aside out of the way He had commanded, and for that rebellion He several times purposed to destroy Israel. Yet because Moses interceded so earnestly for the people, God graciously spared Israel instead of destroying them. Moses joined this warning with the miracles their own eyes had seen the Lord do to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, charging them to keep all the commandments that day so that they would be strong and go in and possess the land.