Overall meaning : Allah, Exalted be He, states that, after Moses had left to hold communion with his Lord, his people made, in his absence, out of their ornaments, a calf—a lifeless body, producing a lowing sound. Did they not see that the calf they had worshipped could neither speak to them nor give them guidance? They took it for worship and thus were transgressors.
Later, having bitterly regretted worshipping the calf instead of Allah after Moses, peace be upon him, returned to them, and realising they had deviated from the right path, they said, 'If our Lord does not have mercy on us and pardon us, we will surely be among the losers.’