Numbers 21:1-8

¹And when the Canaanite, the king of Arad, that dwelled at the south, had heard this, that is, that Israel came by the way of the spyers, he fought against them; and Canaanite was the overcomer, and he led away prey the men of Israel.

²And Israel bound himself by a vow to the Lord, and said, If thou shalt betake this people in mine hand, I shall do away their cities.

³And the Lord heard the prayers of Israel, and betook to them the Canaanites; and Israel killed him, and destroyed his cities; and Israel called the name of that place Hormah, that is, cursing.

⁴Soothly Israel went forth from the hill of Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, that they would compass the land of Edom; and it began to annoy the people, of the way and of the travail.

⁵And 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.

⁶Wherefore the Lord sent fired serpents or fiery adders into the people; at the wounds of which serpents, and the deaths of full many men,

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

⁸and 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.