For the People Bitten by Serpents

In the wilderness

Numbers 21:7–9

⁷The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Please pray to the LORD to take these snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸The LORD told Moses, "Make a snake and mount it on a pole. Anyone who has been bitten can look at it and live." ⁹So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten by a snake, they would look at the bronze snake and survive.

Read Numbers 21

Up nextA Shepherd for the PeopleNumbers 27:15–17

About this passage

Prayers of MosesFor the People Bitten by Serpents

What happened

After the people spoke against God and Moses, the LORD sent poisonous serpents among them. They admitted their sin and asked Moses to pray, and he prayed for them. The LORD told him to make a serpent and set it on a pole. Moses made it of bronze, and anyone bitten who looked at it lived.

Where this fits

One of 17 passages in Moses' Prayers of Moses, in the group “In the wilderness.”

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