Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

NUMBERS 21:7KJV
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Numbers 21:7 (KJV)

What does Numbers 21:7 mean?

Numbers 21:7 describes the people admitting that they had done wrong by speaking against the LORD and Moses. They ask Moses to speak to the LORD on their behalf, and Moses does so. Their request comes while they are suffering from the serpents among them.

After the serpent bites in verse 6, the people approach the same Moses they had spoken against. Their words name both the LORD and Moses as the targets of their complaint. They ask specifically for the serpents to be taken away.

The Hebrew behind Numbers 21:7

  • “sinned” — חָטָא (ḥaṭaʾ): This word can mean to do wrong or to miss a mark. Here the people use it to acknowledge that their speech against the LORD and Moses was wrong.
  • “pray” — פָּלַל (palal): This word carries the sense of making a request to God. The same Hebrew word stands behind “prayed” later in the verse, linking the people’s request with Moses’s response.

Why Numbers 21:7 matters

  • The verse shows Moses responding to people who had just spoken against him. The final words say simply that “Moses prayed for the people.”
  • The answer in the following verses takes a different form from the request. The people ask for the serpents to be taken away, but the LORD tells Moses to make a serpent that those who are bitten can look at and live (verses 8–9).

Where else these words appear

“serpents” Hebrew H5175 · used in 28 verses

  • Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
  • Numbers 21:9 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.
  • Ecclesiastes 10:11 Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.

“pray” Hebrew H6419 · used in 82 verses

  • Genesis 20:7 Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
  • 2 Kings 4:33 He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the LORD.
  • Job 42:10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.