Numbers 21:9 BSB — MannaFest

Numbers 21:9

So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. If anyone who was bitten looked at the bronze snake, he would live.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the standard: and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived.

KJV

And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

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Commentary

4 voices

Ambrose of Milan

Apology for the Prophet David, Chapter III (397)

Many things were done in figure which were done in former times. For when he said that the fathers who were bitten by serpents in the desert could not be healed in any other way except that Moses hung up a brazen serpent, and when this was seen, those deadly bites and injurious effects of the poison were cured, he added: But these things were done in figure to instruct us (1 Corinthians 10:6).

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

Gregory of Nazianzus

ORATION 45.22 (390)

That brazen serpent was hung up as a remedy for the biting serpents, not as a type of him that suffered for us but as a contrast. It saved those that looked upon it, not because they believed it to live but because it was killed, and killed with it were the powers that were subject to it, being destroyed as it deserved. And what is the fitting epitaph for it from us? "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" You are overthrown by the cross.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

And Moses made a serpent of brass - נחש נחשת nechash nechosheth. Hence we find that the word for brass or copper comes from the same root with nachash, which here signifies a serpent, probably on account of the color; as most serpents, especially those of the bright spotted kind, have a very glistening appearance, and those who have brown or yellow spots appear something like burnished brass: but the true meaning of the root cannot be easily ascertained.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

This peculiar method of cure was designed, in the first instance, to show that it was the efficacy of God's power and grace, not the effect of nature or art, and also that it might be a type of the power of faith in Christ to heal all who look to Him because of their sins (Joh 3:14, 15; see also on 2Ki 18:4).

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

18 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַיַּ֤עַשׂ	vai.Ya.'as	and he made	H6213 →
מֹשֶׁה֙	mo.Sheh	Moses	H4872 →
נְחַ֣שׁ	ne.Chash	a snake of	H5175 →
נְחֹ֔שֶׁת	ne.Cho.shet	bronze	H5178 →
וַיְשִׂמֵ֖הוּ	vay.si.Me.hu	and he put it	H7760 →
עַל־	'al-	on	H5921 →
הַנֵּ֑ס	ha.Nes	the standard	H5251 →
וְהָיָ֗ה	ve.ha.Yah	and it was	H1961 →
אִם־	'im-	if	H518 →
נָשַׁ֤ךְ	na.Shakh	it had bitten	H5391 →
הַנָּחָשׁ֙	ha.na.Chash	the snake	H5175 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
אִ֔ישׁ	'Ish	anyone	H376 →
וְהִבִּ֛יט	ve.hi.Bit	and he looked	H5027 →
אֶל־	'el-	to	H413 →
נְחַ֥שׁ	ne.Chash	[the] snake of	H5175 →
הַנְּחֹ֖שֶׁת	ha.ne.Cho.shet	<the> bronze	H5178 →
וָחָֽי׃	va.Chai	and he lived	H2421 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand…
leads to
- Micah 7:7
  But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
- 1 Peter 3:18
  For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
- 1 Peter 2:23–24
  When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.
- Hebrews 1:3
  The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the…
- Philippians 1:6
  being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Through
John 12:32
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw everyone to Myself.”
leads to
- John 8:28
  So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own, but speak exactly what the Father…
- John 3:14
  Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
Through
John 6:40
For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
leads to
- John 5:24
  Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.

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The Bronze Serpent — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

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01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Numbers

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Numbers