^21:5And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread or water, and we¹² detest this worthless¹³ food.”

^21:6So the Lord sent poisonous¹⁴ snakes¹⁵ among the people, and they bit the people; many people of Israel died.

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Footnotes

12 Heb “our souls.”
13 The Israelites’ opinion about the manna was clear enough—“worthless.” The word used is קְלֹקֵל (qéloqel, “good for nothing, worthless, miserable”).
14 Heb “fiery.”
15 The designation of the serpents/ snakes is נְחָשִׁים (nékhashim), which is similar to the word for “bronze” (נְחֹשֶׁת, nékhoshet). This has led some scholars to describe the serpents as bronze in color. The description of them as fiery indicates they were poisonous. Perhaps the snake in question is a species of adder.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died.

NLTNew Living Translation

and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”

So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

The 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.”

And Yahweh sent among the people poisonous snakes; they bit the people, and many people from Israel died.

KJV 1900King James Version

And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

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