The Bible
Old Testament, 4th Book of Moses, Chapter 21 , Verse 4-9
The Israelites set out from Mount Hor and took the direction to the Reed Sea to bypass Edom. On the way, however, the people lost heart, 5 and they rebelled against God and against Moses, saying, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt? Is it so that we might die in the desert? There is neither bread nor water. We are tired of this miserable food. 6 Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people. They bit the people, and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have rebelled against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord to deliver us from the snakes. So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The Lord answered Moses, "Make yourself a snake and hang it on a flagpole. Anyone who is bitten will live if he looks at it. 9 So Moses made a snake of copper and hung it on a flagpole. Now if anyone was bitten by a snake and looked up at the copper snake, he would remain alive.
New Testament, Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 1-16
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leading man among the Jews. 2 He sought Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do the signs you do unless God is with him. 3 Jesus answered him, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus answered him, How can a man who is already old be born? Surely he cannot return to his mother's womb and be born a second time.
5 Jesus answered, Amen, amen, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind blows where it will; you hear its roar, but do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered him, How can this be? 10 Jesus answered, Thou art the teacher of Israel, and understandest not this? 11 Amen, amen, I say to you, what we know we speak of, and what we have seen we testify to, and yet you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have spoken to you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I speak to you about heavenly things? 13 And no one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes (in him) may have eternal life in him. 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
