na.chash denotes a serpent, usually a concrete animal and sometimes an image for danger, movement, or description.

The term most often denotes a concrete serpent, including creatures that bite, crawl, or occur in wilderness settings, as well as a serpent made of bronze. It also appears in figurative comparisons and descriptions, such as Dan by the path, wine’s harmful end, a serpent’s way on a rock, and a voice likened to a serpent.

1. Concrete serpent or serpent image · dominant

   Singular and plural forms identify creatures in scenes of biting, wilderness danger, transformation, and crawling. In Numbers 21:6 the APB renders serpents sent among the people that bite them; in Exodus 4:3 it renders the object made from the rod as a serpent; and in 2 Kings 18:4 it describes a bronze serpent that Moses had made.

   Numbers 21:6Exodus 4:3Genesis 3:14Deuteronomy 8:15Amos 5:192 Kings 18:4
2. Figurative comparison or descriptive image · occasional

   The singular form is used in comparisons and descriptions rather than to identify an animal in the immediate scene. In Genesis 49:17 the APB renders Dan as “a serpent in the way”; in Proverbs 23:32 wine’s end is compared with a serpent that bites; and in Jeremiah 46:22 a voice goes “like a serpent.”

   Genesis 49:17Proverbs 23:32Proverbs 30:19Jeremiah 46:22Micah 7:17Isaiah 27:1

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the supplied verses, the APB commonly uses “serpent,” including plural “serpents” and material descriptions such as “bronze serpent.” It also uses serpent language in comparisons, but it is a whole-verse translation to the Hebrew term.