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Read the Bible

New Living Translation

Numbers 9:16

This was the regular pattern—at night the cloud that covered the Tabernacle had the appearance of fire.

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.
New English Translation
This is the way it used to be continually: The cloud would cover it by day, and there was a fiery appearance by night.
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 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 the Tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered it. But from evening until morning the cloud over the Tabernacle looked like a pillar of fire. 16 This was the regular pattern—at night the cloud that covered the Tabernacle had the appearance of fire. 17 Whenever the cloud lifted from over the sacred tent, the people of Israel would break camp and follow it. And wherever the cloud settled, the people of Israel would set up camp. 18 In this way, they traveled and camped at the Lord 's command wherever he told them to go. Then they remained in their camp as long as the cloud stayed over the Tabernacle. 19 If the cloud remained over the Tabernacle for a long time, the Israelites stayed and performed their duty to the Lord . 20 Sometimes the cloud would stay over the Tabernacle for only a few days, so the people would stay for only a few days, as the Lord commanded. Then at the Lord 's command they would break camp and move on. 21 Sometimes the cloud stayed only overnight and lifted the next morning. But day or night, when the cloud lifted, the people broke camp and moved on. 22 Whether the cloud stayed above the Tabernacle for two days, a month, or a year, the people of Israel stayed in camp and did not move on. But as soon as it lifted, they broke camp and moved on. 23 So they camped or traveled at the Lord 's command, and they did whatever the Lord told them through 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
I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables.
Genesis 9:4
But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.
Genesis 9:8
Then God told Noah and his sons,
Genesis 9:9
"I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants,
Genesis 9:10
and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth.
Genesis 9:11
Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth."
Genesis 9:21
One day he drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent.
Genesis 9:22
Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers.
Genesis 17:7
"I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
Genesis 17:13
All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant.

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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