1. When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who ruled over the Negeb, heard that the Israelites were coming along the way of Atharim, he engaged Israel in battle and took some of them captive.
2. Israel then made this vow to the Lord: “If you deliver this people into my hand, I will put their cities under the ban.”
3. The Lord paid attention to Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they put them and their cities under the ban. Hence that place was named Hormah.
4. From Mount Hor they set out by way of the Red Sea, to bypass the land of Edom, but the people’s patience was worn out by the journey;
5. so the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!”
6. So the Lord sent among the people seraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of the Israelites died.
7. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the Lord and you. Pray to the Lord to take the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people,
8. and the Lord said to Moses: Make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and everyone who has been bitten will look at it and recover.
9. Accordingly Moses made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever the serpent bit someone, the person looked at the bronze serpent and recovered.