Exodus 13:21

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 

Exodus 14:20

14:20 It came between the Egyptian camp and the Israelite camp; it was a dark cloud ⁴  and it lit up the night so that one camp did not come near the other ⁵  the whole night. ⁶ 

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.

Psalms 104:2

104:2 He covers himself with light as if it were a garment.

He stretches out the skies like a tent curtain,

Isaiah 60:19-20

60:19 The sun will no longer supply light for you by day,

nor will the moon’s brightness shine on you;

the Lord will be your permanent source of light –

the splendor of your God will shine upon you. ⁷ 

60:20 Your sun will no longer set;

your moon will not disappear; ⁸ 

the Lord will be your permanent source of light;

your time ⁹  of sorrow will be over.

Matthew 17:2

17:2 And he was transfigured before them. ¹⁰  His ¹¹  face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

Matthew 17:1

The Transfiguration

17:1 Six days later ¹²  Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, ¹³  and led them privately up a high mountain.

Matthew 6:16

Proper Fasting

6:16 “When ¹⁴  you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive ¹⁵  so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, ¹⁶  they have their reward.

Revelation 21:23

21:23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb.

Revelation 22:5

22:5 Night will be no more, and they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever.

[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.

[14:20]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[60:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “and your God for your splendor.”

[60:20]  ⁸ sn In this verse “sun” and “moon” refer to the Lord’s light, which will replace the sun and moon (see v. 19). Light here symbolizes the restoration of divine blessing and prosperity in conjunction with the Lord’s presence. See 30:26.

[60:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “days” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[17:2]  ¹⁰ sn In 1st century Judaism and in the NT, there was the belief that the righteous get new, glorified bodies in order to enter heaven (1 Cor 15:42-49; 2 Cor 5:1-10). This transformation means the righteous will share the glory of God. One recalls the way Moses shared the Lord’s glory after his visit to the mountain in Exod 34. So the disciples saw Jesus transfigured, and they were getting a sneak preview of the great glory that Jesus would have (only his glory is more inherent to him as one who shares in the rule of the kingdom).

[17:2]  ¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[17:1]  ¹² tn Grk “And after six days.”

[17:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “John his brother” with “his” referring to James.

[6:16]  ¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[6:16]  ¹⁵ tn Here the term “disfigure” used in a number of translations was not used because it could convey to the modern reader the notion of mutilation. L&N 79.17 states, “‘to make unsightly, to disfigure, to make ugly.’ ἀφανίζουσιν γὰρ τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν ‘for they make their faces unsightly’ Mt 6:16.”

[6:16]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”