Numbers 21:6-20

New American Standard Bible

The Bronze Serpent

⁶^(A)Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and ^(B)they bit the people, so that ^(C)many people of Israel died. ⁷^(D)So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you; ^(E)intercede with the Lord, that He will remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. ⁸Then the Lord said to Moses, “^[a]Make a ^(F)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.” ⁹So Moses made a ^(G)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.

¹⁰^(H)Now the sons of Israel moved out and camped in Oboth. ¹¹Then they journeyed from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness which is opposite Moab, to the ^[b]east. ¹²^(I)From there they set out and camped in ^[c]Wadi Zered. ¹³From there they journeyed and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites; ^(J)for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴For that reason it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,

“Waheb in Suphah,
And the ^[d]wadis of the Arnon,
¹⁵And the slope of the wadis
That extends to the site of ^(K)Ar,
And leans to the border of Moab.”

¹⁶^(L)From there they continued to ^[e]Beer, that is the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Assemble the people, that I may give them water.”

¹⁷^(M)Then Israel sang this song:

“Spring up, O well! Sing to it!
¹⁸The well, which the leaders dug,
Which the nobles of the people hollowed out,
With the scepter and with their staffs.”

And from the wilderness they continued to Mattanah, ¹⁹and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the land of Moab, at the top of Pisgah, which overlooks the ^[f]desert.

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