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Numbers 21:4-6
New Catholic Bible
Numbers 21:4-6
New Catholic Bible
The Bronze Serpent.[a] 4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the way to the Red Sea in order to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became discouraged along the way. 5 The people spoke against God and Moses, saying, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to have us die in the desert. There is no bread, no water, and we loathe this miserable food.”[b]
6 The Lord sent seraph[c] serpents among the people. They bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Numbers 21:4 The bronze serpent, a sign of repentance and forgiveness, will be used by Jesus as a prefiguration of his own being lifted up on the cross (Jn 3:14).
- Numbers 21:5 We loathe this miserable food: this statement showed more than a distaste for the manna that the Lord had provided and that had been the brunt of ongoing complaints by the people. While they were rejecting the Lord’s physical nourishment, they were turning away from his gift of grace.
- Numbers 21:6 Seraph: the Hebrew for a type of poisonous viper. The etymology suggests “fiery one,” “burning one.”
