This is a very dodgy translation.
Getting a handle on the Agency in this sentence drove me in circles.
Numbers 21:6
KJV: And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
NJB: At this, God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel.
Yidiñ: Yaawaaŋ burri bamaa wurru yumbaañ bamaanda badyaanbidyidyiñu ŋabi bulmbaa Yilgunuu wulaañ.
God = Yaawaaŋ
In the Hebrew, God is called Yahweh, and I have created Yaawa as my Yidiñ approximation.
Yaawaaŋ is the Ergative Case Declension thereof.
sent = yumbaañ
This is the Past Tense Conjugation of the Verb yumbarr, which means send.
fiery serpents = burri wurru
burri is a Noun Classifier for all things associated with fire.
wurru is a Noun with two meanings:
1. large river
2. small, slate-coloured snake
The river refers to water, or the lack thereof – whereof they complained in the previous verse.
The slate colour refers to the false idol which they are about to worship.
Although bronze is a vivid green, the serpent is a false god. From without, it exudes glamour. Within lies nothing.
among the people = bamaa
This is the Locative Case Declension of the Noun bama, which means people.
I was originally going to strike it from the verse altogether, but then I checked the Hebrew.
The original Hebrew is ba’am.
I placed it between burri and wurru in order to draw a parallel between your confusion right now and the confusion felt by the Israelites.
they bit = badyaanbidyidyiñu
This Verb is built from three components:
1. badya = a Verb meaning bite.
2. -:nbidyi = the Dispersed Action Suffix.
3. -dyiñu = the Past Tense Anti-Passive Suffix.
The second element indicates an action which took place in a number of places that are general dispersed.
I will explain the Anti-Passive at the end of this article – this will require a number of diagrams.
people = bamaanda
This is the Dative Case Declension of the Noun bama.
many died = wulaañ ŋabi
wulaañ is the Past Tense Conjugation of the Verb wulan, which means die.
ŋabi is an Adjective which means many.
in Israel = bulmbaa Yilgunuu
For this I had to create a Yidiñ term for Israel.
In Hebrew, the word Israel comprises two components:
1. sarah = a Verb meaning persist.
2. El = the name of God.
In Yilgunu, we have two components:
Yil is a rough approximation of El.
gunu is a reduced form of the Adjective gunugunu, which translates as ready to fight to expiate crime.
So how does this pesky Anti-Passive work?
First, we simplify the sentence:
Yaawaaŋ burri wurru yumbaañ bamaanda badyaanbidyidyiñu = Yahweh sent serpents and they bit the people everywhere.
We can split this sentence in twain. Thus giving us:
Yawaaŋ burri wurru yumbaañ. = Yahweh sent the serpents.
Burriiŋ wurruuŋ bama badyaanbidyiiñ. = The serpents bit the people everywhere.
badyaanbidyiiñ is just badyaanbidyidyiñu without the Anti-Passive.
There is a problem between these two sentences.
Essentially, the burri wurru cannot bite anything, they can only be bitten.
Meanwhile, the burriiŋ wurruuŋ cannot be sent, they can only send other things.
By themselves, these two words cannot co-exist in the same sentence and simultaneously refer to the same serpents.
In order to have these two in the same sentence and refer to the same serpents, the Anti-Passive Suffix -:dyin is added to the Verb.
burri wurru remains in the Absolutive, whilst bama must be rendered into the Dative.
The Anti-Passive is a solution to a problem which the English Language is incapable of having.