9:20 When 6 the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, 7 they remained camped according to the Lord’s commandment, 8 and according to the Lord’s commandment they would journey.
1 tn The clause begins with a vav (ו) on the noun “the Levites,” indicating a disjunctive clause. Here it is clearly a subordinate clause prior to the instruction for Moses, and so translated as a circumstantial clause of time.
2 tn The imperative is from the verb “to do; to make,” but in the sentence it clearly means to sacrifice the animals.
3 sn The “purification offering” cleansed the tabernacle from impurity, and the burnt offering atoned by nullifying and removing the effects of sin in the Levites.
4 tn Heb “at the mouth of” (so also in vv. 20, 23).
5 tn Heb “all the days of – that the cloud settled over the tabernacle.” “All” is the adverbial accusative of time telling how long they camped in one spot – all. The word is then qualified by the genitive of the thing measured – “all of the days” – and this in turn is qualified by a noun clause functioning as a genitive after “days of.”
7 tn The sentence uses וְיֵשׁ (vÿyesh) followed by a noun clause introduced with אֲשֶׁר (’asher) to express an existing situation; it is best translated as an adverbial clause of time: “and it was when the cloud was….”
8 tn The word “number” is in apposition to the word “days” to indicate that their stay was prolonged for quite a few days.
9 tn Heb “mouth of the
10 tn Heb “hand.”