In the daytime he led them by a cloud, and all night by a pillar of fire.
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.
- BSB He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.
- 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.
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 for a covering, fire to give light in the night.
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Exod 40:35–38Moses wasn’t able to enter into the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and Yahweh’s glory filled the tabernacle.
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 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
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