"The people said against God and against Moses: "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert? Because here there is neither bread nor water and we are nauseated by this light food". Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, which bit the people, and a large number of Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to remove these serpents from us." Moses prayed for the people. The Lord said to Moses: "Make a serpent and put it on a pole; whoever looks at it after being bitten will remain alive." Moses then made a brazen serpent and put it on the pole; when a snake had bitten someone, if he looked at the copper snake, he remained alive. (Numbers)"