Numbers 14:14

14:14 then they will tell it to the inhabitants ¹  of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, ²  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.

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 ³  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 ⁴  and it lit up the night so that one camp did not come near the other ⁵  the whole night. ⁶ 

Exodus 14:24

14:24 In the morning watch ⁷  the Lord looked down ⁸  on the Egyptian army ⁹  through the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw the Egyptian army ¹⁰  into a panic. ¹¹ 

Exodus 33:9-10

33:9 And ¹²  whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord ¹³  would speak with Moses. ¹⁴  33:10 When all the people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people, each one at the entrance of his own tent, would rise and worship. ¹⁵ 

Exodus 40:34

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

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.

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, ¹⁷ 

and provided a fire to light up the night.

Isaiah 4:5

4:5 Then the Lord will create

over all of Mount Zion ¹⁸ 

and over its convocations

a cloud and smoke by day

and a bright flame of fire by night; ¹⁹ 

indeed a canopy will accompany the Lord’s glorious presence. ²⁰ 

Ezekiel 10:3-4

10:3 (The cherubim were standing on the south side ²¹  of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.) 10:4 Then the glory of the Lord arose from the cherub and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud while the court was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s glory.

Ezekiel 10:1

God’s Glory Leaves the Temple

10:1 As I watched, I saw ²²  on the platform ²³  above the top of the cherubim something like a sapphire, resembling the shape of a throne, appearing above them.

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²⁴  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

[14:14]  ¹ tn The singular participle is to be taken here as a collective, representing all the inhabitants of the land.

[14:14]  ² tn “Face to face” is literally “eye to eye.” It only occurs elsewhere in Isa 52:8. This expresses the closest communication possible.

[14:19]  ³ 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]  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.

[14:24]  ⁷ 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.

[14:24]  ⁸ 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.

[14:24]  ⁹ 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.

[14:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “camp.”

[14:24]  ¹¹ 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).

[33:9]  ¹² tn Heb “and it was when.”

[33:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:9]  ¹⁴ tn Both verbs, “stand” and “speak,” are perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutive.

[33:10]  ¹⁵ tn All the main verbs in this verse are perfect tenses continuing the customary sequence (see GKC 337 §112.kk). The idea is that the people would get up (rise) when the cloud was there and then worship, meaning in part bow down. When the cloud was not there, there was access to seek God.

[9:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “did not turn from them by day to guide them in the path.”

[105:39]  ¹⁷ tn Or “curtain.”

[4:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “over all the place, Mount Zion.” Cf. NLT “Jerusalem”; CEV “the whole city.”

[4:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a cloud by day, and smoke, and brightness of fire, a flame by night.” Though the accents in the Hebrew text suggest otherwise, it might be preferable to take “smoke” with what follows, since one would expect smoke to accompany fire.

[4:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “indeed (or “for”) over all the glory, a canopy.” This may allude to Exod 40:34-35, where a cloud overshadows the meeting tent as it is filled with God’s glory.

[10:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “right side.”

[10:1]  ²² tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[10:1]  ²³ tn Or “like a dome.” See 1:22-26.

[1:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.