So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died.
- KJV And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
- BSB So the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died.
- NASB Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
- NLT So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Lord sent venomous snakes that bit the people, and many Israelites died. God judged their rebellion with a deadly plague.
Overview
The fiery serpents bring tangible judgment on the people's contempt for God's goodness. The deadliness of the bites mirrors the deadliness of their sin in despising the Lord. This sober discipline prepares the way for a gracious remedy that will display both judgment and mercy together.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Cor 10:9Let us not test Christ, as some of them tested, and perished by the serpents.
- Jer 8:17“For, behold, I will send serpents, adders among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you,” says Yahweh.
- Deut 8:15who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with venomous snakes and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water; who poured water for you out of the rock of flint;
- Amos 9:3–4Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.
- Isa 30:6The burden of the animals of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to an unprofitable people.
- Isa 14:29Don’t rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root an adder will emerge, and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent.
- Gen 3:14–15Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. You shall go on your belly and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 21:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.