So it was continually. The cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night.
Parallel translations
- KJV So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
- BSB It remained that way continually; the cloud would cover the tabernacle by day, and at night it would appear like fire.
- NKJV So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
- NASB That is how it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
- NLT This was the regular pattern—at night the cloud that covered the Tabernacle had the appearance of fire.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The cloud by day and fire by night were continual over the tabernacle. God's guiding presence never left His people.
Overview
Day and night, without interruption, the sign of God's presence remained over the dwelling. This constancy assured Israel that the Lord was always with them in the wilderness, a comfort echoed in Christ's promise never to leave nor forsake His own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Neh 9:12Moreover, in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go.
- Deut 1:33who went before you on the way, to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day.
- Exod 13:21–22Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night:
- Num 9:18–22At the commandment of Yahweh, the children of Israel traveled, and at the commandment of Yahweh they encamped. As long as the cloud remained on the tabernacle they remained encamped.
- Rev 21:3I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
- 1 Cor 10:1Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
- 2 Cor 5:19namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
- Ps 105:39He spread a cloud for a covering, fire to give light in the night.
- Ps 78:14In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.
- Neh 9:19yet you in your manifold mercies didn’t forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud didn’t depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither did the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go.
- Isa 4:5–6Yahweh will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy.
- Exod 40:38For the cloud of Yahweh was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 9:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.