Numbers 21:5-15

5 And the people ¹spoke against God and against Moses, ²"Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and ³we loathe this worthless food."

6 ⁴Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and ⁵they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

7 ⁶And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. ⁷Pray 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 ⁸Moses made a bronze^[a] 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 ⁹camped in Oboth.

11 ¹⁰And they set out from Oboth and ¹¹camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise.

12 From there they set out and camped in ¹²the 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 ¹³Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD, "Waheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon,

15 and the slope of the valleys that extends to the seat of ¹⁴Ar, and leans to the border of Moab."

Read Chapter Compare

Numbers 21:5-15 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 14

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

Footnotes 1

[a]. Or copper

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