Numbers 21:8

And YHWH says to Moses, “Make a burning [serpent] for yourself, and set it on an ensign; and it has been, everyone who is bitten and has seen it—he has lived.”

Literal Standard Version

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

7and the people come to Moses and say, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against YHWH and against you; pray to YHWH that He turns the serpent aside from us”; and Moses prays in behalf of the people.

9And Moses makes a serpent of bronze, and sets it on the ensign, and it has been, if the serpent has bitten any man, and he has looked expectingly to the serpent of bronze—he has lived.

Read all of Numbers 21

Cross References

2 Kings 18:4he has turned aside the high places, and broken in pieces the standing-pillars, and cut down the Asherah, and beaten down the bronze serpent that Moses made, for up to these days the sons of Israel were making incense to it, and he calls it “a piece of bronze.”

Psalms 145:8YHWH [is] gracious and merciful, || Slow to anger, and great in kindness.

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