Numbers 21:1-9

New American Standard Bible

Arad Conquered

21 When the Canaanite, the king of ^(A)Arad, who lived in the ^[a]Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. ² So ^(B)Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed hand over this people to me, then I will ^[b]utterly destroy their cities.” ³ The Lord heard the voice of Israel and turned over the Canaanites; then they ^[c]utterly destroyed them and their cities. And the place was named ^[d](C)Hormah.

⁴ Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the ^[e]Red Sea, to ^(D)go around the land of Edom; and the ^[f]people became impatient because of the journey. ⁵ So the people spoke against God and Moses: “^(E)Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no ^[g]food and no water, and ^[h](F)we are disgusted with ^[i]this miserable food.”

The Bronze Serpent

^6 (G)Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and ^(H)they bit the people, so that ^(I)many people of Israel died. ^7 (J)So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you; ^(K)intercede with the Lord, that He will remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. ⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “^[j]Make a ^(L)fiery serpent, and put it on a flag pole; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, and looks at it, will live.” ⁹ So Moses made a ^(M)bronze serpent and put it on the flag pole; and it came about, that if a serpent bit someone, and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.