⁴ They set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea^[a] to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient^[b] along the way. ⁵ The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us from Egypt to die in the desert? There is no food and no water, and our hearts detest this miserable food.”

The Bronze Serpent

⁶ And Yahweh sent among the people poisonous snakes; they bit the people, and many people from Israel died. ⁷ The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh and let him remove the snakes^[c] from among us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ And Yahweh said to Moses, “Make for yourself a snake and place it on a pole. When^[d] anyone is bitten and looks at it, that person will live.” ⁹ So Moses made a snake of bronze, and he placed it on the pole; whenever^[e] a snake bit someone, and that person looked at the snake of bronze, he lived.