Bilangan 21:6

21:6 So the Lord sent poisonous ¹  snakes ²  among the people, and they bit the people; many people of Israel died.

Ulangan 32:24

32:24 They will be starved by famine,

eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; ³ 

I will send the teeth of wild animals against them,

along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.

[21:6]  ¹ tn Heb “fiery.”

[21:6]  ² tn The designation of the serpents/ snakes is נְחָשִׁים (nÿkhashim), which is similar to the word for “bronze” (נְחֹשֶׁת, nÿkhoshet). This has led some scholars to describe the serpents as bronze in color. The description of them as fiery indicates they were poisonous. Perhaps the snake in question is a species of adder.

[32:24]  ³ tn The Hebrew term קֶטֶב (qetev) is probably metaphorical here for the sting of a disease (HALOT 1091-92 s.v.).