⁹ Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they ^(A)did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

²¹ and ^(A)they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

The Bronze Serpent

⁴ From Mount Hor ^(A)they set out by the way to the Red Sea, ^(B)to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way.

¹² Is not this what ^(A)we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”