Numbers 21:4-13 ▼

4 And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the soul of the people was short on the way.

5 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 our soul loathes this worthless bread.”

6 And YHWH sent among the people fiery serpents, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died.

7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against YHWH and against you. Pray to YHWH, that He take away from us the serpents.” And Moses prayed for the people.

8 And YHWH said to Moses, “Make for yourself a fiery serpent and set it on a pole; and it shall come to pass that anyone who is bitten, and he looks at it, he shall live.”

9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. And it came to pass that, if a serpent had bitten anyone, and he looked unto the bronze serpent, he lived.

10 And the sons of Israel set out and camped in Oboth.

11 And they set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is east of Moab toward the sunrise.

12 From there they set out and camped in the Valley of Zered.

13 From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorite. For the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and between the Amorite.