He spread out a cloud as a covering, And fire to illumine by night.
Parallel translations
- WEB He spread a cloud for a covering, fire to give light in the night.
- KJV He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night.
- BSB He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the night.
- NKJV He spread a cloud for a covering, And fire to give light in the night.
- NLT The Lord spread a cloud above them as a covering and gave them a great fire to light the darkness.
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
God spread a cloud to cover them and fire to give light at night. It matters because He personally guided and sheltered His redeemed people.
Overview
The pillar of cloud and fire led Israel through the wilderness (Exodus 13:21-22). The cloud shaded them by day and the fire lit their way by night, signs of God's constant presence. This visible guidance and protection assured Israel that the Lord Himself journeyed with them, as He dwells with His people in Christ and the Spirit.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 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.
- Ps 78:14In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.
- Isa 4:5Yahweh 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 14:24In the morning watch, Yahweh looked out on the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and confused the Egyptian army.
- 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.
- 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:
- 1 Cor 10:1–2Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
- Num 9:15–22On the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, even the Tent of the Testimony: and at evening it was over the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until morning.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 105:39 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.