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This happened during the years the ancient Jewish nation served as God's chosen nation for the purpose of producing the Messiah. [Gal 3:26-29] It was after they were freed from slavery to Egypt,
in the wilderness on their way to the promised land.
The Golden Serpent on the stake prefigures
the crucifixion of Christ.
We "gaze" at him by reading his words
recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke or John
Numbers 21:4-9 ESV From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. (5) And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food." (6) Then the LORD ( יהוה ) sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. (7) And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD ( יהוה ) and against you. Pray to the LORD ( יהוה ) , that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. (8) And the LORD ( יהוה ) said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." (9) So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at [gaze upon] the bronze serpent and live.
Numbers 21:4-9 MKJV And they pulled up stakes from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the soul of the people was very discouraged because of the way. (5) And the people spoke against God and against Moses, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water. And our soul hates this light bread. (6) And Jehovah ( יהוה ) sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people. And many people of Israel died. (7) And the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against Jehovah ( יהוה ) and against you. Pray to Jehovah ( יהוה ) that He take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. (8) And Jehovah ( יהוה ) said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole. And it shall be when everyone that is bitten, when he looks upon it, he shall live. (9) And Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole. And it happened that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked upon the serpent of brass, he lived.
Numbers 21:4-9 GNB The Israelites left Mount Hor by the road that leads to the Gulf of Aqaba, in order to go around the territory of Edom. But on the way the people lost their patience (5) and spoke against God and Moses. They complained, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We can't stand any more of this miserable food!" (6) Then the LORD ( יהוה ) sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many Israelites were bitten and died. (7) The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD ( יהוה ) and against you. Now pray to the LORD ( יהוה ) to take these snakes away." So Moses prayed for the people. (8) Then the LORD ( יהוה ) told Moses to make a metal snake and put it on a pole, so that anyone who was bitten could look at it and be healed. (9) So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten would look at the bronze snake and be healed.
Numbers 21:4-9 LITV And they pulled up stakes from Mount Hor by the way to the Sea of Reeds, to go around the land of Edom. And the soul of the people became impatient because of the way. (5) And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul hates this light bread. (6) And Jehovah ( יהוה ) sent fiery serpents among the people; and they bit the people, and many people of Israel died. (7) And the people came in to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against Jehovah ( יהוה ) , and against you. Pray to Jehovah ( יהוה ) , and He shall turn the serpent away from us. And Moses prayed on behalf of the people. (8) And Jehovah ( יהוה ) spoke to Moses, Make yourself a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that when anyone is bitten, when he sees it, he shall live. (9) And Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on a pole; and it happened, if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.
Numbers 21:4-9 GW Then they moved from Mount Hor, following the road that goes to the Red Sea, in order to get around Edom. The people became impatient on the trip (5) and criticized God and Moses. They said, "Why did you make us leave Egypt-just to let us die in the desert? There's no bread or water, and we can't stand this awful food!" (6) So the LORD ( יהוה ) sent poisonous snakes among the people. They bit the people, and many of the Israelites died. (7) The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we criticized the LORD ( יהוה ) and you. Pray to the LORD ( יהוה ) so that he will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people. (8) The LORD ( יהוה ) said to Moses, "Make a snake, and put it on a pole. Anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." (9) So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. People looked at the bronze snake after they were bitten, and they lived.
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You will note the reference windows often include more than one translation of the Bible. The reason is to strive to gain the best possible understanding of the original Hebrew and Greek. Since we don't speak those languages, we rely on those who have come before and made the effort to translate those texts into English for us. Considering several translations gives the benefit of the understanding of several translation committees or individuals.
The Translations we quote are:
ALT - Analytical Literal Translation
ASV - American Standard Version (by the American revision committee in 1897).
BBE - 1965 Bible in Basic English
Bishops - 1568 Bishop's Bible
Calvin - 1856 by Calvin Translation Society
CEV - Contemporary English Version
Coverdale - 1535 Miles Coverdale Bible
Darby - 1889 Darby Bible
DRB - 1899 Douay-Rheims Bible
ESV - English Standard Version
GNB - Good News Bible
GW - God's Word Bible
ISV - International Standard Version
KJV - 1769 King James Version
KJV-1611 - Old King James Version from 1611
LitNT - Literal New Testament
LITV - Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
MKJV - 1962 Modern King James Version
Murdock - 1851 James Murdock New Testament
MWT - Modern World Translation
NWT - New World Translation
RV - Revised Version
Webster - 1833 Webster Bible
WTNT - 1525-26 William Tyndale New Testament
Wycliffe - 1394 Wycliffe Bible
YLT - 1862/1898 Young's Literal Translation
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