But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.

So the Lord sent poisonous ¹  snakes ²  among the people, and they bit the people; many people of Israel died.

The Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous snake and set it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks ¹  at it, he will live.”

and who brought you through the great, fearful desert of venomous serpents ¹  and scorpions, an arid place with no water. He made water flow ²  from a flint rock and

Seraphs ¹  stood over him; each one had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, ²  and they used the remaining two to fly.

Don’t be so happy, all you Philistines, just because the club that beat you has been broken! ¹  For a viper will grow out of the serpent’s root, and its fruit will be a darting adder. ² 

This is a message ¹  about the animals in the Negev: Through a land of distress and danger, inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, ²  by snakes and darting adders, ³  they transport ⁴  their wealth on the backs of donkeys, their riches on the humps of camels, to a nation that cannot help them. ⁵