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Read the Bible

The NET Bible®

Numbers 9:16

This is the way it used to be continually: The cloud would cover it by day, and there was a fiery appearance by night.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Cloud;   Fire;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - High Priest, the;   Tabernacle;   Theocracy, the, or Immediate Government by God;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Cloud;   Miracle;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Cloud, Cloud of the Lord;   Leviticus, Theology of;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Cloud;   Numbers, the Book of;   Tabernacle;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Baptism of Fire;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Moses;   Numbers, Book of;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Tabernacle;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Plagues of Egypt;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Canaan;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Moses;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
So it was continually. The cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night.
King James Version
So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
Lexham English Bible
So it was continually; the cloud would cover it and the appearance of fire by night.
New Century Version
The cloud stayed above the Tent, and at night it looked like fire.
Amplified Bible
So it was continuously; the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
New American Standard Bible
That is how it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
Geneva Bible (1587)
So it was alway: the cloude couered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
Legacy Standard Bible
So it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
Complete Jewish Bible
So the cloud always covered it, and it looked like fire at night.
Darby Translation
So it was continually: the cloud covered it, and at night it was as the appearance of fire.
Easy-to-Read Version
The cloud stayed over the Holy Tent all the time. And at night the cloud looked like fire.
English Standard Version
So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night.
George Lamsa Translation
So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night;
Christian Standard Bible®
It remained that way continuously: the cloud would cover it, appearing like fire at night.
Literal Translation
so it was always; the cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
So came it to passe allwaye, yt the cloude couered it by daye, & the symilitude of fyre by night.
American Standard Version
So it was alway: the cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night.
Bible in Basic English
And so it was at all times: it was covered by the cloud, and by a light as of fire by night.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
So it was alway: the cloude couered it by day, and the appearaunce of fire by nyght.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
So it was alway: the cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night.
King James Version (1611)
So it was always: the cloud couered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
So it was continually: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
English Revised Version
So it was alway: the cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night.
Berean Standard Bible
It remained that way continually; the cloud would cover the tabernacle by day, and at night it would appear like fire.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thus it was don continueli, a cloude hilide it bi dai, and as the licnesse of fier bi nyyt.
Young's Literal Translation
so it is continually; the cloud covereth it, also the appearance of fire by night.
Update Bible Version
So it always was: the cloud covered it and by night [had] the appearance of fire.
Webster's Bible Translation
So it was always; the cloud covered it [by day], and the appearance of fire by night.
World English Bible
So it was continually. The cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night.
New King James Version
So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
New Living Translation
This was the regular pattern—at night the cloud that covered the Tabernacle had the appearance of fire.
New Life Bible
It was like this always. The cloud would cover it during the day. What looked like fire would cover it during the night.
New Revised Standard
It was always so: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thus, came it to pass continually, the cloud, covered it, - and an appearance of fire, by night;
Douay-Rheims Bible
So it was always: by day the cloud covered it, and by night as it were the appearance of fire.
Revised Standard Version
So it was continually; the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.

Contextual Overview

15 On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle—the tent of the testimony—and from evening until morning there was a fiery appearance over the tabernacle. 16 This is the way it used to be continually: The cloud would cover it by day, and there was a fiery appearance by night. 17 Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the Israelites would begin their journey; and in whatever place the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp. 18 At the commandment of the Lord the Israelites would begin their journey, and at the commandment of the Lord they would make camp; as long as the cloud remained settled over the tabernacle they would camp. 19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, then the Israelites obeyed the instructions of the Lord and did not journey. 20 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, they remained camped according to the Lord 's commandment, and according to the Lord 's commandment they would journey. 21 And when the cloud remained only from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up the following morning, then they traveled on. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they traveled. 22 Whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud prolonged its stay over the tabernacle, the Israelites remained camped without traveling; but when it was taken up, they traveled on. 23 At the commandment of the Lord they camped, and at the commandment of the Lord they traveled on; they kept the instructions of the Lord according to the commandment of the Lord , by the authority of Moses.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Numbers 9:18-22, Exodus 13:21, Exodus 13:22, Exodus 40:38, Deuteronomy 1:33, Nehemiah 9:12, Nehemiah 9:19, Psalms 78:14, Psalms 105:39, Isaiah 4:5, Isaiah 4:6, 1 Corinthians 10:1, 2 Corinthians 5:19, Revelation 21:3, This cloud not only enlightened the Israelites, but also protected them, and was a continual pledge of God's presence and protection. To this manifestation of the Divine glory, the prophet Isaiah alludes, when he says - Isaiah 4:5, "The Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night." God is the director, protector, and glory of his church.

Cross-References

Genesis 9:3
You may eat any moving thing that lives. As I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
Genesis 9:4
But you must not eat meat with its life (that is, its blood) in it.
Genesis 9:8
God said to Noah and his sons,
Genesis 9:9
"Look! I now confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you
Genesis 9:10
and with every living creature that is with you, including the birds, the domestic animals, and every living creature of the earth with you, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature of the earth.
Genesis 9:11
I confirm my covenant with you: Never again will all living things be wiped out by the waters of a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth."
Genesis 9:21
When he drank some of the wine, he got drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.
Genesis 9:22
Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers who were outside.
Genesis 17:7
I will confirm my covenant as a perpetual covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
Genesis 17:13
They must indeed be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money. The sign of my covenant will be visible in your flesh as a permanent reminder.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

So it was alway,.... Night and day, as long as the people of Israel were in the wilderness, see Exodus 13:21;

the cloud covered it [by day]: the phrase, "by day", is not in the text, but is easily and necessarily supplied from Exodus 40:38; and as it is in the Targum of Jonathan, and in the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and which the following clause requires:

and the appearance of fire by night; when as a cloud it could not be because of the darkness of the night; as in the daytime it could not be discerned as a body of fire or light, because of the light of the sun; but being seen under these different forms, was serviceable both by day and night, for the following purposes.


 
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