They grew tired of bread form heaven And of Moses and of God They longed to live the life of slavery once again So they muttered and they grumbled And they wimpered and they whined; With each faithless word, sank deeper into sin
He took the pen of pain once more To write upon their hearts The lesson they had been so slow to learn But writing in the sand, the firey serpents came to call With a holy message and a bite that burned
Chorus: Lift up the suffering symbol And place it high upon a pole Tell the children to look up and be made whole
So Moses made a metal snake, And nailed it to a pole Sent out the saving word so they would know That the symbol of their suffering was now the focus of their faith and with a faithful glance, the healing power would flow
In time the brazen serpent became an idol in the land And they left the living God to worship clay When they forgot their suffering Soon true faith had disappeared So some idolize a brazen cross today