Nehemiah 9:18

Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This [is] thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;

Ver. 18. Yea, when they had made them a golden calf] An ounce whereof the Jews say is still to this day in all the punishments that befall them; though some of their Rabbis have the face to excuse this gross idolatry of their forefathers, Nehemiah 9:18, εμοσχοποιησαν, Vitulificarunt (Piscat.).

And said, This is thy God] Exodus 32:4. These be thy gods. It was the serpent's grammar that first taught men to decline God in the plural number: Ye shall be as Gods, Genesis 3:5

That brought thee up out of Egypt] Some of them, then, did mean to worship the true God, in this false manner; hence Exodus 32:5, there is proclaimed a feast (not to the golden calf, but) to Jehovah. Here, then, falls to the ground the Papists' plea for their image worship.

And had wrought great provocations] Or, blasphemies, 2 Kings 19:3. Idolatry is no better. Jerome, as oft as be meeteth with this Hebrew word in the Book of Psalms (and that is five several times), he translateth it, to blaspheme.