The Serpent is Found 49 Times in the Bible:
A Symbol of Deception and Judgment
The serpent is found 49 times and is a recurring symbol in the Bible, often associated with deception, sin, and divine judgment. Here are some key scriptures from the King James Version that highlight the role of the serpent in biblical narratives:
Genesis: The Fall of Man
Genesis 3:1-14: The serpent tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, leading to the fall of man. God curses the serpent to crawl on its belly and eat dust all its life.
Genesis 49:17: Dan is compared to a serpent that bites the horse’s heels, causing the rider to fall.
Exodus: Signs and Wonders
Exodus 4:3: Moses’ rod turns into a serpent as a sign from God.
Exodus 7:9-15: Aaron’s rod becomes a serpent before Pharaoh, demonstrating God’s power.
Numbers: Fiery Serpents
Numbers 21:6-9: God sends fiery serpents to punish the Israelites for their sins. Moses makes a brass serpent, and those who look upon it are healed.
Deuteronomy and Kings: Wilderness and Idolatry
Deuteronomy 8:15: The wilderness is described as a place of fiery serpents and scorpions.
2 Kings 18:4: King Hezekiah destroys the brass serpent made by Moses, which had become an object of idolatry.
Wisdom Literature: Metaphors and Warnings
Job 26:13: God’s power is illustrated by His creation of the crooked serpent.
Psalms and Proverbs: Serpents are used as metaphors for deceit and danger (Psalm 58:4, Psalm 140:3, Proverbs 23:32, Proverbs 30:19).
Ecclesiastes 10:8-11: Serpents are mentioned in the context of warnings and consequences.
The serpent’s presence in these scriptures serves as a powerful reminder of the consequences of sin and the importance of obedience to God. It also highlights God’s authority and ability to use even the most cunning creatures to fulfill His purposes.
Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Genesis 3:2
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Genesis 3:4
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Genesis 3:13
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Genesis 3:14
And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Genesis 49:17
Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
Exodus 4:3
And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
Exodus 7:9
When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you: then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.
Exodus 7:10
And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Exodus 7:12
For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
Exodus 7:15
Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.
Numbers 21:6
And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Numbers 21:7
Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
Numbers 21:8
And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
Numbers 21:9
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
Deuteronomy 8:15
Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
Deuteronomy 32:24
They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
2 Kings 18:4
He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
Job 26:13
By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.
Psalm 58:4
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
Psalm 140:3
They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.
Proverbs 23:32
At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Proverbs 30:19
The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.
Ecclesiastes 10:8
He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
Ecclesiastes 10:11
Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
Isaiah 14:29
Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
Isaiah 27:1
In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Isaiah 30:6
The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.
Isaiah 65:25
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.
Jeremiah 8:17
For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.
Jeremiah 46:22
The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
Amos 5:19
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
Amos 9:3
And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
Micah 7:17
They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee.
Matthew 7:10
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
Matthew 10:16
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Matthew 23:33
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Mark 16:18
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Luke 10:19
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luke 11:11
If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
John 3:14
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
1 Corinthians 10:9
Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
James 3:7
For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
Revelation 9:19
For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
Revelation 12:9
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Revelation 12:14
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
Revelation 12:15
And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Revelation 20:2
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
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