Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 32:18

"And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome; but the noise of them that sing do I hear." — Exodus 32:18 (ASV)

Shout ... cry ... sing. —The Hebrew verb is the same in all three clauses. Translate: It is not the voice of those who cry for victory, nor is it the voice of those who cry for defeat; the voice of those who cry I hear. Moses’ sense of hearing conveys to him no positive result. We must remember that the camp was still distant, and that the sound was conveyed circuitously, since the descent from the Ras Sufsafeh is by a side valley, from which the sight of the plain is shut out (Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 44).