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Numbers 21:5-7
New Catholic Bible
Numbers 21:5-7
New Catholic Bible
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.”[a]
6 The Lord sent seraph[b] serpents among the people. They bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord so that he might save us from the serpents.” So Moses prayed for the people.
Footnotes
- 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.”
