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.

Jesus Warns and Comforts His Disciples

16 “These things I have spoken to you, that you ^(A)should not be made to stumble. ^2 (B)They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming ^(C)that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. ³ And ^(D)these things they will do ^[a]to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. ⁴ But these things I have told you, that when ^[b]the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.

“And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

⁵ “But now I ^(E)go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, ^(F)sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but ^(G)if I depart, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And when He has ^(H)come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ^9 (I)of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ^10 (J)of righteousness, ^(K)because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ^11 (L)of judgment, because ^(M)the ruler of this world is judged.

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, ^(N)but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ However, when He, ^(O)the Spirit of truth, has come, ^(P)He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. ^14 (Q)He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. ^15 (R)All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He ^[c]will take of Mine and declare it to you.

² and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother ^(A)not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for ^(B)I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

^3 [a]“Thus Aaron shall ^(C)come into the Holy Place: ^(D)with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering. ⁴ He shall put the ^(E)holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore ^(F)he shall wash his body in water, and put them on. ⁵ And he shall take from ^(G)the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats as a sin offering, and one ram as a burnt offering.

⁶ “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and ^(H)make atonement for himself and for his house. ⁷ He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁸ Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. ⁹ And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. ¹⁰ But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make ^(I)atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness.

¹¹ “And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for ^(J)himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull as the sin offering which is for himself. ¹² Then he shall take ^(K)a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of ^(L)sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. ^13 (M)And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the ^(N)mercy seat that is on the Testimony, lest he ^(O)die. ^14 (P)He shall take some of the blood of the bull and ^(Q)sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

^15 (R)“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood ^(S)inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. ¹⁶ So he shall ^(T)make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. ¹⁷ There shall be ^(U)no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. ¹⁸ And he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord, and make atonement for ^(V)it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. ¹⁹ Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, cleanse it, and ^(W)consecrate^[b] it from the ^[c]uncleanness of the children of Israel.

²⁰ “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. ²¹ Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, ^(X)confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, ^(Y)putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. ²² The goat ^[d]shall ^(Z)bear on itself all their iniquities to an ^[e]uninhabited land; and he shall ^(AA)release the goat in the wilderness.

²³ “Then Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of meeting, ^(AB)shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there. ²⁴ And he shall wash his body with water in a holy place, put on his garments, come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make ^[f]atonement for himself and for the people.

Sorrow Will Turn to Joy

¹⁶ “A ^(A)little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, ^(B)because I go to the Father.”

¹⁷ Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not ^[a]know what He is saying.”

¹⁹ Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? ²⁰ Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and ^(C)lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into ^(D)joy. ^21 (E)A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²² Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and ^(F)your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.

²³ “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. ^(G)Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. ²⁴ Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, ^(H)that your joy may be ^(I)full.

Jesus Christ Has Overcome the World

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you ^(J)plainly about the Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; ^27 (K)for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and ^(L)have believed that I came forth from God. ^28 (M)I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”

²⁹ His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! ³⁰ Now we are sure that ^(N)You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this ^(O)we believe that You came forth from God.”

³¹ Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ^32 (P)Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, ^(Q)each to his ^[b]own, and will leave Me alone. And ^(R)yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ³³ These things I have spoken to you, that ^(S)in Me you may have peace. ^(T)In the world you ^[c]will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, ^(U)I have overcome the world.”