The Bronze Serpent

⁴ Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to ^(A)go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very ^[a]discouraged on the way. ⁵ And the people ^(B)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 ^[b]loathes this worthless bread.” ⁶ So ^(C)the Lord sent ^(D)fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

^7 (E)Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have ^(F)sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; ^(G)pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(H)“Make a ^(I)fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” ⁹ So ^(J)Moses 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.

^14 (A)And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so ^(B)must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever ^(C)believes in Him should ^[a]not perish but ^(D)have eternal life. ^16 (E)For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten ^(F)Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ^17 (G)For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

^18 (H)“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, ^(I)that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For ^(J)everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹ But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been ^(K)done in God.”