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Exodus 40:38

in Exodus 40

For the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel through all their journeys.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

For the cloud of Jehovah was upon the tabernacle by day, and there was fire therein by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

KJV

For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

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This verse in Exodus 40

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day - This daily and nightly appearance was at once both a merciful providence, and a demonstrative proof of the Divinity of their religion: and these tokens continued with them throughout all their journeys; for, notwithstanding their frequently repeated disobedience and rebellion, God never withdrew these tokens of his presence from them, till they were brought into the promised land.

This site's exposition

the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day

The last picture in the book is a cloud over a tent by day and fire on it by night, where every household in Israel can see it. Exodus opened with a people made to serve Pharaoh with rigour at 1:13-14 and closes with a tent, a priesthood and an order of service, and the Hebrew root behind serve is the same at both ends. They are still in the wilderness and still short of the land promised at Genesis 15:18, and God is living in the middle of the camp. John 1:14 says the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, using the Greek verb for pitching a tent.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

A concealment of the tabernacle, and the glory of God in it. God did indeed dwell among them, but he dwelt in a cloud: Verily thou art a God that hidest, thyself. Blessed be God for the gospel of Christ, in which we all with open face behold as in a glass, not in a cloud, the glory of the Lord.
For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

It is always accessible and can be carried in our pockets when we walk abroad; it may be engraved on the inner tablets of our memories and our hearts; and so true, faithful, and complete a guide is it, that there is not a scene of duty or of trial through which we may be called to pass in the world, but it furnishes a clear, a safe, and unerring direction (Col 3:16).

The words behind it

16 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • כִּי֩for

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • עֲנַ֨ן[the] cloud of

    ʾananH6051 →87 times

  • יְהוָ֤הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • עַֽל־[was] over

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הַמִּשְׁכָּן֙the tabernacle

    hamishkanH4908 →139 times

  • יוֹמָ֔םby day

    yomamH3119 →50 times

  • וְאֵ֕שׁand fire

    veeshH784 →378 times

  • תִּהְיֶ֥הit was

    tihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • לַ֖יְלָהnight

    laylahH3915 →233 times

  • בּ֑וֹon <the> it

    bo

  • לְעֵינֵ֥יto [the] eyes of

    leeineiH5869 →887 times

  • כָל־all

    khol-H3605 →5413 times

  • בֵּֽית־[the] house of

    beit-H1004 →2046 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • בְּכָל־in all

    bekholH3605 →5413 times

  • מַסְעֵיהֶֽם׃journeyings their

    maseihemH4550 →12 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

11 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Psalms 78:14He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.10 worksExodus 13:21And 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.9 worksNumbers 9:15On the day that the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it and appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning.9 worksIsaiah 4:5–6Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a canopy,6 worksPsalms 105:39He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the night.5 worksNumbers 14:14And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.3 works
The other 5 cross-references, with their words ▾
Nehemiah 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.3 worksNumbers 9:16It remained that way continually; the cloud would cover the tabernacle by day, and at night it would appear like fire.2 worksNumbers 12:5and the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the Tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them had stepped forward,2 worksNumbers 11:25Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and placed that Spirit on the seventy elders. As the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but they never did so again.2 worksDeuteronomy 31:15Then the LORD appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Exodus 13:21

    And 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…

    it leads to

    • Nehemiah 9:12

      You 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.

      Reached by 4 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 105:39

      He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the night.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Corinthians 10:1–2

      I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea.

    • Psalms 99:7

      He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept His decrees and the statutes He gave them.

    • Deuteronomy 1:33

      who went before you on the journey, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day, to seek out a place for you to camp and to show you the road to…

  • Through

    Psalms 105:39

    He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the night.

    it leads to

    • Nehemiah 9:19

      You 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…

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 78:14

      He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Exodus 14:24

      At 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.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

Where this verse is studied

About Exodus

The Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Exodus: the study guide →Read Exodus 40 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Chuck Missler, Learn the Bible in 24 Hours; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Exodus 40 →