Numbers 21:1–9

Canaanites Defeated at Hormah

21The ^aking of Arad, the Canaanite, who dwelt in the South, heard that Israel was coming on the road to Atharim. Then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners. ^2bSo Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then ^cI will utterly destroy their cities.” ³And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called ¹Hormah.

The Bronze Serpent

⁴Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to ^dgo around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very ²discouraged on the way. ⁵And the people ^espoke 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 our soul ³loathes this worthless bread.” ⁶So ^fthe Lord sent ^gfiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

^7hTherefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have ⁱsinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; ^jpray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸Then the Lord said to Moses, ^k“Make a ^lfiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” ⁹So ^mMoses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.