And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.

And he was exceeding angry against Aaron also, and would have destroyed him, and I prayed in like manner for him.

And with Aaron Jehovah was very angry to destroy him; and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

'And with Aaron hath Jehovah shewed himself very angry, to destroy him, and I pray also for Aaron at that time;

And the Lord, in his wrath, would have put Aaron to death: and I made prayer for Aaron at the same time.

Moreover the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him; and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.

Likewise, he became vehemently angry against Aaron, and he was willing to destroy him, and I prayed for him similarly.

Contra Aharon quoque excanduit Jehova vehementer ad perdendum eum, et oravi etiam pro Aharon tempore illo.

And the Lord was very angry with Aaron It hence appears how vain are the pretexts whereby men endeavor to conceal their faults, until they are subdued by genuine fear of God to acknowledge their guilt. Although Aaron did not boast that he was altogether innocent, still he endeavored to blot out, or at any rate to extenuate the enormity of his crime by alleging that he was under compulsion. But Moses declares that God was very angry with him. Whence it follows that he was guilty of a very gross sin, which is also more certainly declared by the greatness of its punishment; for God would never have been thus moved even to destroy him, unless because he was worthy of this condemnation. In the next verse, the word sin is not applied to the act; itself, but is transferred by metonymy to the calf, as its apposition shews. Again, by saying that he had thoroughly broken the calf to pieces by grinding it till it was reduced to powder, he signifies once more how abominable this idol was, especially when he adds, that the powder was cast into the stream, lest any memorial of it should continue in existence.

Israel could not even boast that its heads and representatives continued, faithful. Aaron had been already designated for the high priestly functions; but he fell away with the rest of the people. It was due therefore solely to the grace of God and the intercession of Moses that Aaron himself and his promised priesthood with him were not cut off; just as at a later time, when Aaron had actually to die for a new sin Israel owed it still to the same causes that Eleazar was substituted and the High Priesthood perpetuated (compare Deuteronomy 10:6; Numbers 20:24-26).

And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have (l) destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.
(l) By which he shows the danger they are in who have authority and do not resist wickedness.

And the Lord was very angry with Aaron, to have destroyed him,.... For complying with the request of the people in making a calf for them, and for that miserable shift he made to excuse himself; which so provoked the Lord, that he threatened to destroy him, and he was in danger of being cut off, had it not been for the intercession of Moses:
and I prayed for Aaron also the same time: who either was included in the general prayer for the people, Exodus 32:31 or a particular prayer was made for him, though not recorded, and which also succeeded.

The Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him--By allowing himself to be overborne by the tide of popular clamor, Aaron became a partaker in the guilt of idolatry and would have suffered the penalty of his sinful compliance, had not the earnest intercession of Moses on his behalf prevailed.