2. But you, O Lord, did not punish your people in this way; instead, you showed them kindness. You sent them quails to eat, a rare, delicious food to satisfy their hunger.
3. You did all this so that the idolators, when they were hungry, would be unable to eat because of the disgusting creatures sent to them. Your people, however, suffered hunger for only a short while, and then they ate the finest food.
4. It was necessary for the oppressors to suffer relentless need, while your people saw how their enemies were being tormented.
5. When terrible, fierce snakes attacked your people and were killing them with their poison, you did not remain angry long enough to destroy your people.
6. This trouble lasted for only a little while, as a warning. Then you gave them a healing symbol, the bronze snake, to remind them of what your Law requires.
7. If a person looked at that symbol, he was cured of the snakebite — not by what he saw, but by you, the saviour of all mankind.