Numbers 21:1-9 ▼

1 WHEN the Canaanite, the king of Gadar who dwelled in the south, heard that Israel came by the way of the spies, then he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoners.

2 And Israel vowed a vow to the LORD and said, If thou wilt surely deliver this people into our hands, then we will utterly destroy their cities.

3 And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites into their hands; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities; and they called the name of that place Hirmah.

4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people were much distressed because of the way.

5 And the people murmured against God and against Moses, saying, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For neither is there bread, nor water; and our soul is wearied with this inferior bread (manna).

6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents against the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

7 Therefore the people came to Moses and said to him, We have sinned, for we have murmured against the LORD and against you; pray before the LORD, that he take the serpents away from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

8 And the LORD said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent of brass, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass that every one who is bitten by a serpent, when he looks upon it, shall live.

9 So Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.