Guidance by the Cloud

15 On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony,(A) and it appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning. 16 It remained that way continuously: the cloud would cover it,[a] appearing like fire at night.(B) 17 Whenever the cloud was lifted up above the tent, the Israelites would set out; at the place where the cloud stopped, there the Israelites camped.(C) 18 At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at the Lord’s command they camped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they camped.

19 Even when the cloud stayed over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites carried out the Lord’s requirement and did not set out. 20 Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle for only a few days. They would camp at the Lord’s command and set out at the Lord’s command. 21 Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning; when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out. Or if it remained a day and a night, they moved out when the cloud lifted. 22 Whether it was two days, a month, or longer,[b] the Israelites camped and did not set out as long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. But when it was lifted, they set out. 23 They camped at the Lord’s command, and they set out at the Lord’s command. They carried out the Lord’s requirement according to His command through Moses.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 9:16 LXX, Vg, Syr, Tg read it by day
  2. Numbers 9:22 Or a year

The Cloud and the Fire

15 And on a day setting up the tabernacle, the cloud covered the tent of the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony; in the evening it was on the tabernacle as an appearance of fire until morning. 16 So it was[a] continually; the cloud would cover it and the appearance of fire by night. 17 Whenever the cloud lifted up from on the tent, after that the Israelites[b] would set out, and in the place where the cloud dwelled, there the Israelites[c] camped. 18 On the command of Yahweh[d] the Israelites[e] would set out, and on the command of Yahweh[f] they encamped; all the days that the cloud dwelled on the tabernacle they encamped. 19 And when the cloud prolonged on the tabernacle many days the Israelites[g] kept the kept requirement of Yahweh and did not set out. 20 When the cloud remained[h] a number of days on the tabernacle, on the command of Yahweh[i] they encamped; and on the command of Yahweh[j] they set out. 21 When the cloud remained[k] from evening until morning, and the cloud lifted up in the morning, they would set out, or if it remained in the daytime and at night, when the cloud lifted up they set out. 22 When it was two days, a month, or a year[l] that the cloud prolonged to dwell on the tabernacle, the Israelites[m] encamped, and they did not set out; when it lifted up they set out. 23 On the command of Yahweh[n] they encamped, and on the command of Yahweh[o] they set out. They kept the requirement of Yahweh, on the command of Yahweh[p] in the hand of Moses.[q]

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 9:16 Hebrew “it will be”
  2. Numbers 9:17 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  3. Numbers 9:17 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  4. Numbers 9:18 Literally “mouth of Yahweh”
  5. Numbers 9:18 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  6. Numbers 9:18 Literally “mouth of Yahweh”
  7. Numbers 9:19 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  8. Numbers 9:20 Literally “it was there”
  9. Numbers 9:20 Literally “mouth of Yahweh”
  10. Numbers 9:20 Literally “mouth of Yahweh”
  11. Numbers 9:21 Literally “it was there”
  12. Numbers 9:22 Literally “or days”
  13. Numbers 9:22 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  14. Numbers 9:23 Literally “mouth of Yahweh”
  15. Numbers 9:23 Literally “mouth of Yahweh”
  16. Numbers 9:23 Literally “mouth of Yahweh”
  17. Numbers 9:23 Or “through Moses”