²⁸ So Jesus said [to them], “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me.^(A)

³² And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”^(A)

³⁴ So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever.^[a] Then how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”^(A)

The Bronze Serpent. ⁴ From Mount Hor they set out by way of the Red Sea, to bypass the land of Edom, but the people’s patience was worn out by the journey; ⁵ so the people complained^(A) against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!”^[a]

⁶ So the Lord sent among the people seraph^[b] serpents, which bit^(B) the people so that many of the Israelites died. ⁷ Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the Lord and you. Pray to the Lord to take the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people, ⁸ and the Lord said to Moses: Make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and everyone who has been bitten will look at it and recover.^{[c] 9} Accordingly Moses made a bronze serpent^[d] and mounted it on a pole, and whenever the serpent bit someone, the person looked at the bronze serpent and recovered.^(C)