⁵ Then the Lord will create^(A) over all of Mount Zion^(B) and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night;^(C) over everything the glory^[a](D) will be a canopy.^(E)

²¹ By day the Lord went ahead^(A) of them in a pillar of cloud^(B) to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. ²² Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left^(C) its place in front of the people.

The Glory of the Lord

³⁴ Then the cloud^(A) covered the tent of meeting, and the glory^(B) of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory^(C) of the Lord filled the tabernacle.^(D)

³⁶ In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out;^{(E) 37} but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. ³⁸ So the cloud^(F) of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.

The Cloud Above the Tabernacle

¹⁵ On the day the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant law,^(A) was set up,^(B) the cloud^(C) covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire.^{(D) 16} That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire.^{(E) 17} Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out;^(F) wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped.^{(G) 18} At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained^(H) in camp. ¹⁹ When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s order^(I) and did not set out.^{(J) 20} Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord’s command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. ²² Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out.

The Glory of Zion