Home › Glossary › Letter B

Brazen Serpent

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The Brazen Serpent is the bronze serpent Moses raises to heal those bitten in the wilderness.

Detailed Definition
When venomous snakes afflict Israel, Moses lifts a bronze serpent, and those who look upon it live. The image transforms the sign of danger into an instrument of healing, while also warning against confusing sacred symbols with automatic power. In poetry, the Brazen Serpent can represent art’s paradoxical cure, the gaze that survives pain, or the wound reimagined as a pathway toward restoration.
Example
Example in poetry:
The Brazen Serpent is the bronze serpent Moses raised in the wilderness as a means of healing.; A poet can use it as an image of an apparent danger transformed into a source of restoration.; “I lifted the Brazen Serpent of my shame and found the wound begin to close” makes the symbol inward and psychological.; The term may also suggest the tension between sacred healing and the later danger of worshiping an image.
Additional Notes
The Brazen Serpent is the bronze serpent Moses lifts in the wilderness after Israel is bitten by snakes, so that those who look upon it live. It represents healing through obedient trust. In John 3, Jesus connects the image with his own being “lifted up,” giving it a Christological meaning.
Also Known As
Bronze Serpent Nehushtan
Skip to main content