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, ¹  so that they could ²  travel day or night. ³  13:22 He did not remove the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people. ⁴ 

Exodus 14:19-20

14:19 The angel of God, who was going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar ⁵  of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. 14:20 It came between the Egyptian camp and the Israelite camp; it was a dark cloud ⁶  and it lit up the night so that one camp did not come near the other ⁷  the whole night. ⁸ 

Exodus 40:34

40:34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Numbers 9:15-22

The Leading of the Lord

9:15 ⁹ On ¹⁰  the day that the tabernacle was set up, ¹¹  the cloud ¹²  covered the tabernacle – the tent of the testimony ¹³  – and from evening until morning there was ¹⁴  a fiery appearance ¹⁵  over the tabernacle. 9:16 This is the way it used to be continually: The cloud would cover it by day, ¹⁶  and there was a fiery appearance by night. 9:17 Whenever the cloud was taken up ¹⁷  from the tabernacle, then after that the Israelites would begin their journey; and in whatever place ¹⁸  the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp. 9:18 At the commandment ¹⁹  of the Lord the Israelites would begin their journey, and at the commandment of the Lord they would make camp; as long as ²⁰  the cloud remained settled over the tabernacle they would camp. 9:19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, then the Israelites obeyed the instructions ²¹  of the Lord and did not journey.

9:20 When ²²  the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, ²³  they remained camped according to the Lord’s commandment, ²⁴  and according to the Lord’s commandment they would journey. 9:21 And when ²⁵  the cloud remained only ²⁶  from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up ²⁷  the following morning, then they traveled on. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they traveled. 9:22 Whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year, ²⁸  that the cloud prolonged its stay ²⁹  over the tabernacle, the Israelites remained camped without traveling; ³⁰  but when it was taken up, they traveled on.

Numbers 14:14

14:14 then they will tell it to the inhabitants ³¹  of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, ³²  that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night.

Deuteronomy 1:33

1:33 the one who was constantly going before you to find places for you to set up camp. He appeared by fire at night and cloud by day, to show you the way you ought to go.

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, ³³  nor did the pillar of fire stop illuminating for them by night the path on which they should travel.

Psalms 78:14

78:14 He led them with a cloud by day,

and with the light of a fire all night long.

Psalms 105:39

105:39 He spread out a cloud for a cover, ³⁴ 

and provided a fire to light up the night.

[13:21]  ¹ 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.

[13:21]  ² tn The infinitive construct here indicates the result of these manifestations – “so that they went” or “could go.”

[13:21]  ³ tn These are adverbial accusatives of time.

[13:22]  ⁴ sn See T. W. Mann, “The Pillar of Cloud in the Reed Sea Narrative,” JBL 90 (1971): 15-30.

[14:19]  ⁵ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 400-401) makes a good case that there may have been only one pillar, one cloud; it would have been a dark cloud behind it, but in front of it, shining the way, a pillar of fire. He compares the manifestation on Sinai, when the mountain was on fire but veiled by a dark cloud (Deut 4:11; 5:22). See also Exod 13:21; Num 14:14; Deut 1:33; Neh 9:12, 19; Josh 24:7; Pss 78:14; 105:39.

[14:20]  ⁶ tn The two nouns “cloud” and “darkness” form a nominal hendiadys: “and it was the cloud and the darkness” means “and it was the dark cloud.” Perhaps this is what the Egyptians saw, preventing them from observing Moses and the Israelites.

[14:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “this to this”; for the use of the pronouns in this reciprocal sense of “the one to the other,” see GKC 448 §139.e, n. 3.

[14:20]  ⁸ tc The LXX reads very differently at the end of this verse: “and there was darkness and blackness and the night passed.” B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 218) summarizes three proposals: (1) One takes the MT as it stands and explains it along the lines of the Targum and Jewish exegesis, that there was one cloud that was dark to one group and light to the other. (2) Another tries to reconstruct a verb from the noun “darkness” or make some use of the Greek verb. (3) A third seeks a different meaning for the verb “lit,” “gave light” by comparative philology, but no consensus has been reached. Given that there is no easy solution apart from reconstructing the text, and given that the MT can be interpreted as it is, the present translation follows the MT.

[9:15]  ⁹ sn This section (Num 9:15-23) recapitulates the account in Exod 40:34 but also contains some additional detail about the cloud that signaled Israel’s journeys. Here again material from the book of Exodus is used to explain more of the laws for the camp in motion.

[9:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and/now on the day.”

[9:15]  ¹¹ tn The construction uses the temporal expression with the Hiphil infinitive construct followed by the object, the tabernacle. “On the day of the setting up of the tabernacle” leaves the subject unstated, and so the entire clause may be expressed in the passive voice.

[9:15]  ¹² sn The explanation and identification of this cloud has been a subject of much debate. Some commentators have concluded that it was identical with the cloud that led the Israelites away from Egypt and through the sea, but others have made a more compelling case that this is a different phenomenon (see ZPEB 4:796). A number of modern scholars see the description as a retrojection from later, perhaps Solomonic times (see G. H. Davies, IDB 3:817). Others have tried to connect it with Ugaritic terminology, but unconvincingly (see T. W. Mann, “The Pillar of Cloud in the Reed Sea Narrative,” JBL 90 [1971]: 15-30; G. E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation, 32-66, 209-13; and R. Good, “Cloud Messengers?” UF 10 [1978]: 436-37).

[9:15]  ¹³ sn The cloud apparently was centered over the tent, over the spot of the ark of the covenant in the most holy place. It thereafter spread over the whole tabernacle.

[9:15]  ¹⁴ tn The imperfect tense in this and the next line should be classified as a customary imperfect, stressing incomplete action but in the past time – something that used to happen, or would happen.

[9:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “like the appearance of fire.”

[9:16]  ¹⁶ tc The MT lacks the words “by day,” but a number of ancient versions have this reading (e.g., Greek, Syriac, Tg. Ps.-J., Latin Vulgate).

[9:17]  ¹⁷ tn The verb in this initial temporal clause is the Niphal infinitive construct.

[9:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in the place where it settled there”; the relative clause modifies the noun “place,” and the resumptive adverb completes the related idea – “which it settled there” means “where it settled.”

[9:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “at the mouth of” (so also in vv. 20, 23).

[9:18]  ²⁰ 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.”

[9:19]  ²¹ tn This is the same Hebrew expression that was used earlier for the Levites “keeping their charge” or more clearly, “fulfilling their obligations” to take care of the needs of the people and the sanctuary. It is a general expression using שָׁמַר (shamar) followed by its cognate noun מִשְׁמֶרֶת (mishmeret).

[9:20]  ²² 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….”

[9:20]  ²³ tn The word “number” is in apposition to the word “days” to indicate that their stay was prolonged for quite a few days.

[9:20]  ²⁴ tn Heb “mouth of the Lord.”

[9:21]  ²⁵ tn The construction is the same in the preceding verse.

[9:21]  ²⁶ tn “Only” is supplied to reflect the contrast between the two verses.

[9:21]  ²⁷ tn The construction in this half of the verse uses two vav (ו) consecutive clauses. The first is subordinated to the second as a temporal clause: “when…then….”

[9:22]  ²⁸ tn The MT has אוֹ־יָמִים (’o-yamim). Most translators use “or a year” to interpret this expression in view of the sequence of words leading up to it, as well as in comparison with passages like Judg 17:10 and 1 Sam 1:3 and 27:7. See also the uses in Gen 40:4 and 1 Kgs 17:15. For the view that it means four months, see F. S. North, “Four Month Season of the Hebrew Bible,” VT 11 (1961): 446-48.

[9:22]  ²⁹ tn In the Hebrew text this sentence has a temporal clause using the preposition with the Hiphil infinitive construct of אָרַךְ (’arakh) followed by the subjective genitive, “the cloud.” But this infinitive is followed by the infinitive construct לִשְׁכֹּן (lishkon), the two of them forming a verbal hendiadys: “the cloud made long to stay” becomes “the cloud prolonged its stay.”

[9:22]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and they would not journey”; the clause can be taken adverbially, explaining the preceding verbal clause.

[14:14]  ³¹ tn The singular participle is to be taken here as a collective, representing all the inhabitants of the land.

[14:14]  ³² tn “Face to face” is literally “eye to eye.” It only occurs elsewhere in Isa 52:8. This expresses the closest communication possible.

[9:19]  ³³ tn Heb “did not turn from them by day to guide them in the path.”

[105:39]  ³⁴ tn Or “curtain.”