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Numbers 21:2-4
New Catholic Bible
Numbers 21:2-4
New Catholic Bible
2 [a]Israel made a vow to the Lord saying, “If you will deliver this people into our hands, then we will utterly destroy their cities!” 3 The Lord listened to the plea of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites. They totally destroyed them and their cities, therefore the place is called Hormah.
The Bronze Serpent.[b] 4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the way to the Red Sea in order to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became discouraged along the way.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Numbers 21:2 Hormah means “dedicated to destruction.” The entire booty taken in war is destroyed as an act of homage to God. See Num 18:14; Jos 6:7.
- Numbers 21:4 The bronze serpent, a sign of repentance and forgiveness, will be used by Jesus as a prefiguration of his own being lifted up on the cross (Jn 3:14).
