Numbers 21:7

7 they came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we spake against the Lord, and thee; pray thou (the Lord), that he take away from us the serpents (pray thou to the Lord, that he take these snakes away from us). And Moses prayed for the people;

Numbers 21:7 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 21:7

Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, we have sinned,
&c.] Being bitten with serpents, and some having died, the rest were frightened, and came and made an humble acknowledgment of their sins to Moses:

for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee;
murmuring at their being brought out of Egypt, and because they had no better provision in the wilderness; concluding they should die there for want, and never enter into the land of Canaan, of which evils they were now sensible, and confessed them:

pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us;
or "the serpent" ^F3, in the singular, which is put for the plural, as it often is; or the plague of the serpent, as the Targum of Jonathan, that it might cease, and they be no more distressed by them: they were sensible they came from God, and that none could remove them but him; and knowing that Moses was powerful in prayer, and had interest with God, they entreat him to be their intercessor, though they had spoken against him and used him ill:

and Moses prayed for the people;
which proves him to be of a meek and forgiving spirit; who, though he had been so sadly reflected on, yet readily undertakes to pray to God for them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (vxn ta) "serpentem", Montanus; "hunc serpentem", Piscator,

Numbers 21:7 In-Context

5 And the people spake against the Lord, and Moses, and said, Why leddest thou us out of Egypt, that we should die in wilderness? bread faileth, waters be not; our soul loatheth now on this meat most light. (And the people spoke against the Lord, and Moses, and said, Why leddest thou us out of Egypt, so that we would die here in this wilderness? bread faileth us, waters be not; and our souls now loathe this most light food, yea, this manna!)

6 Wherefore the Lord sent fired serpents/fiery adders into the people; at the wounds of which serpents, and (after) the deaths of full many men, (And so the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people; and they bit many of them, and after many people had died,)

7 they came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we spake against the Lord, and thee; pray thou (the Lord), that he take away from us the serpents (pray thou to the Lord, that he take these snakes away from us). And Moses prayed for the people;

8 and the Lord said to him, Make thou a [brazen] serpent, and set thou it in a perch; he that is smitten and beholdeth it, shall live. (and the Lord said to him, Make thou a bronze snake, and put it up on a pole; he who is struck, or is bitten, and seeth it, shall live.)

9 Therefore Moses made a serpent of brass, and setted (it) in a perch; and (those) men (who were) hurt, and beholding it, were healed. (And so Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it up on a pole; and those who were bitten, and looked at it, were healed.)