In Moses' absence, his people manufactured a hollow sounding calf out of their ornaments. Could they not see that it could not speak to them or provide them with any guidance? They gained only evil by worshipping the calf. 148 When they found that they had believed in the wrong thing, they regretfully said, "If our Lord will not have mercy on us and forgive us, we will certainly be lost." 149 And when Moses returned to his people, angry and grieved, he said, "How wretched is that by which you have replaced me after [my departure]. Were you impatient over the matter of your Lord?" And he threw down the tablets and seized his brother by [the hair of] his head, pulling him toward him. [Aaron] said, "O son of my mother, indeed the people oppressed me and were about to kill me, so let not the enemies rejoice over me and do not place me among the wrongdoing people." 150 He said: My Lord! forgive me and my brother and cause us to enter into Thy mercy, and Thou art the most Merciful of the merciful ones. 151