He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.
Parallel translations
- WEB In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.
- KJV In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
- NKJV In the daytime also He led them with the cloud, And all the night with a light of fire.
- NASB Then He led them with the cloud by day And all the night with a light of fire.
- NLT In the daytime he led them by a cloud, and all night by a pillar 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
God led them by a cloud in the daytime and by the light of fire all night.
Overview
The pillar of cloud and fire shows God's continual, personal guidance of His people through the wilderness. His presence gave direction and protection day and night. This faithful guidance pictures God's abiding care for His own and points to Christ, the light who leads His people through the darkness of this world.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 105:39He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the night.
- Exod 13:21–22And the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel by day or night.
- Exod 14:24At morning watch, however, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and He threw their camp into confusion.
- Neh 9:19You in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud never turned away from guiding them on their path; and by the night the pillar of fire illuminated the way they should go.
- Neh 9:12You led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they should travel.
- Exod 40:35–38Moses was unable to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 78:14 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.