Psalms 105:39

105:39 He spread out a cloud for a cover, ¹ 

and provided a fire to light up the night.

Exodus 13:21-22

13:21 Now the Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, ²  so that they could ³  travel day or night. ⁴  13:22 He did not remove the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people. ⁵ 

Exodus 14:24

14:24 In the morning watch ⁶  the Lord looked down ⁷  on the Egyptian army ⁸  through the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw the Egyptian army ⁹  into a panic. ¹⁰ 

Exodus 40:35-38

40:35 Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 40:36 But when the cloud was lifted up ¹¹  from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out ¹²  on all their journeys; 40:37 but if the cloud was not lifted up, then they would not journey further until the day it was lifted up. ¹³  40:38 For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, but fire would be ¹⁴  on it at night, in plain view ¹⁵  of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

Nehemiah 9:12

9:12 You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel.

Nehemiah 9:19

9:19 “Due to your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. The pillar of cloud did not stop guiding them in the path by day, ¹⁶  nor did the pillar of fire stop illuminating for them by night the path on which they should travel.

¹ tn Or “curtain.”

² sn God chose to guide the people with a pillar of cloud in the day and one of fire at night, or, as a pillar of cloud and fire, since they represented his presence. God had already appeared to Moses in the fire of the bush, and so here again is revelation with fire. Whatever the exact nature of these things, they formed direct, visible revelations from God, who was guiding the people in a clear and unambiguous way. Both clouds and fire would again and again represent the presence of God in his power and majesty, guiding and protecting his people, by judging their enemies.

³ tn The infinitive construct here indicates the result of these manifestations – “so that they went” or “could go.”

⁴ tn These are adverbial accusatives of time.

⁵ sn See T. W. Mann, “The Pillar of Cloud in the Reed Sea Narrative,” JBL 90 (1971): 15-30.

⁶ tn The night was divided into three watches of about four hours each, making the morning watch about 2:00-6:00 a.m. The text has this as “the watch of the morning,” the genitive qualifying which of the night watches was meant.

⁷ tn This particular verb, שָׁקַף (shaqaf) is a bold anthropomorphism: Yahweh looked down. But its usage is always with some demonstration of mercy or wrath. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 120) suggests that the look might be with fiery flashes to startle the Egyptians, throwing them into a panic. Ps 77:17-19 pictures torrents of rain with lightning and thunder.

⁸ tn Heb “camp.” The same Hebrew word is used in Exod 14:20. Unlike the English word “camp,” it can be used of a body of people at rest (encamped) or on the move.

⁹ tn Heb “camp.”

¹⁰ tn The verb הָמַם (hamam) means “throw into confusion.” It is used in the Bible for the panic and disarray of an army before a superior force (Josh 10:10; Judg 4:15).

¹¹ tn The construction uses the Niphal infinitive construct to form the temporal clause.

¹² tn The imperfect tense in this context describes a customary action.

¹³ tn The clause uses the Niphal infinitive construct in the temporal clause: “until the day of its being taken up.”

¹⁴ tn Here is another imperfect tense of the customary nuance.

¹⁵ tn Heb “to the eyes of all”; KJV, ASV, NASB “in the sight of all”; NRSV “before the eyes of all.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “did not turn from them by day to guide them in the path.”