Numbers 21:3-13

3 And the LORD heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called ¹Hormah.^[a]

The Bronze Serpent

4 From Mount Hor ²they set out by the way to the Red Sea, ³to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way.

5 And the people ⁴spoke against God and against Moses, ⁵"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and ⁶we loathe this worthless food."

6 ⁷Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and ⁸they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

7 ⁹And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. ¹⁰Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

8 And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live."

9 So ¹¹Moses made a bronze^[b] serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

The Song of the Well

10 And the people of Israel set out and ¹²camped in Oboth.

11 ¹³And they set out from Oboth and ¹⁴camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise.

12 From there they set out and camped in ¹⁵the Valley of Zered.

13 From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites, for the ¹⁶Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

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Numbers 21:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 21

This chapter gives an account of the defeat of King Arad, the Canaanite, Nu 21:1-3 of the murmurings of the children of Israel, because of difficulties in travelling round, the land of Edom, for which they were punished with fiery serpents, Nu 21:4-6 and how that upon their repentance a brazen serpent was ordered to be made, and to be erected on a pole, that whoever looked to it might live, Nu 21:7-9 and of the several journeys and stations of the children of Israel, until they came to the land of the Amorites, Nu 21:10-20, when they sent a message to Sihon their king, to desire him to grant them a passage through his country; but he refusing, they fought with him, smote him, and possessed his land, concerning which many proverbial sayings were used, Nu 21:21-32 and the chapter is concluded with the defeat of Og, king of Bashan, Nu 21:33-35.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 16

1. Numbers 14:45; Deuteronomy 1:44; Joshua 19:4; Judges 1:17
2. Numbers 20:22; Numbers 33:41
3. Judges 11:18
4. Psalms 78:19
5. Exodus 16:3; Exodus 17:3
6. [Numbers 11:6]
7. Deuteronomy 8:15; 1 Corinthians 10:9; [Isaiah 14:29; Isaiah 30:6]
8. Jeremiah 8:17
9. Psalms 78:34; [Numbers 11:2]
10. [Exodus 8:8, 28; 1 Samuel 12:19; 1 Kings 13:6; Acts 8:24]
11. John 3:14, 15; [2 Kings 18:4]
12. Numbers 33:43, 44
13. [See ver. 10 above]
14. [See ver. 10 above]
15. Deuteronomy 2:13
16. Numbers 22:36; Judges 11:18

Footnotes 2

[a]. Hormah means destruction
[b]. Or copper

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.