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The ornaments / gold that they had given to have an idol made out of gold with. These would be an affront to God. Some were already not wearing any - if they had them on, they took them off. We are to go to God, in humility - with no fancy pretense of being anything other than what we are. They were a stiff-necked people - did not want to bow down to the Lord. What are we like? Do we want to admit our shortcomings? God was giving them over to the leadership of Moses - with out Him. He was going to keep His promise of the promised land - but He would not be with them. If He went, his holiness would require likewise, and that was not going to happen. He wanted to be merciful - so those are the steps that He is asking of them. Take off your ornaments. If you aren't ashamed of your misdeeds - lets at least take steps in that direction. Just like us as parents. We can't force our children to be sorry for something they have done - but we can ask them to at least look that way - and take steps in that direction - and sometimes they do get there.