Numbers 21:8

And the Lord said to him: Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live.

Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner, 1752)

In The King James Version

And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

In Context

7Upon which they came to Moses, and said; We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and thee: pray that he may take away these serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

9Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed. A brazen serpent... This was a figure of Christ crucified, and of the efficacy of a lively faith in him, against the bites of the hellish serpent. John 3.14.

Read all of Numbers 21

Cross References

2 Kings 18:4He destroyed the high places, and broke the statues in pieces, and cut down the groves, and broke the brazen serpent, which Moses had made: for till that time the children of Israel burnt incense to it: and he called its name Nohestan. And he called its name Noheston... That is, their brass; or a little brass. So he called it in contempt, because they had made an idol of it.

Psalms 145:8The Lord enlighteneth the blind. The Lord lifteth up them that are cast down: the Lord loveth the just.

Matthew Henry on Numbers 21:5-10

The Brazen Serpent. ( b. c. 1452.) 4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6 And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Numbers 21:8