4They set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to turn around the land of Edom, and the soul of the people grew short on the way.5The people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes the worthless food."6The LORD sent the serpents, the fiery ones, among the people, and they bit the people, and many people of Israel died.7The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD that he may turn the serpent away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.8The LORD said to Moses, "Make for yourself a serpent and set it upon a banner; then everyone who is bitten may see it and live."9Moses made a serpent of bronze and set it upon the banner; then if a serpent bit a man and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.