21The Canaanite king of Arad, who was dwelling in the Negev,^a heard that Israel came along the way of Atharim; he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. ²Israel made a vow to Yahweh, and they said, “If you will surely give this people into our^b hand, then we^c will destroy^d their cities.” ³Yahweh heard the voice of Israel; he gave to them the Canaanites, and they destroyed them^e and their cities. They called the name of the place Hormah.

⁴They set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea^f to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient^g along the way. ⁵The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us from Egypt to die in the desert? There is no food and no water, and our hearts detest this miserable food.”

The Bronze Serpent

⁶And Yahweh sent among the people poisonous snakes; they bit the people, and many people from Israel died. ⁷The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh and let him remove the snakes^h from among us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸And Yahweh said to Moses, “Make for yourself a snake and place it on a pole. Whenⁱ anyone is bitten and looks at it, that person will live.” ⁹So Moses made a snake of bronze, and he placed it on the pole; whenever^j a snake bit someone, and that person looked at the snake of bronze, he lived.

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Footnotes

aAn arid region south of the Judean hills
bHebrew “my”
cHebrew “I”
dLiterally “devote to God”
eLiterally “they devoted to God”
fLiterally “sea of reed”
gLiterally “the life of the people became short”
hHebrew “snake”
iHebrew “And it will happen”
jHebrew “And it will happen”