Numbers 9:16
in Numbers 9It remained that way continually; the cloud would cover the tabernacle by day, and at night it would appear like fire.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So it was alway: the cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night.
KJV
So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
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This verse in Numbers 9
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
On the day that the tabernacle
on Numbers 9:15-16
The account returns to the day the tabernacle was set up, where Exodus closed at 40:34-38. The cloud covers “the Tent of the Testimony” and shows as cloud by day and fire by night, one presence in two appearances.
This site's exposition
at night it would appear like fire
John Wesley and Matthew Henry explain the two forms, since a cloud would vanish in the dark and a fire would fade in daylight. The sign stayed visible at every hour. Henry also reads the cloud as the darkness of the old covenant and the fire as its terror.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
So it was alway,....
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Now He resumes the telling of the journey [through the wilderness] and the commandments which they were commanded about it, such as the trumpets, which Moses was now commanded were to be for the calling of the congregation, and for causing the camps to set forward. 94 Further,:2.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֵּ֚ן | ken | thus | H3651 → | 771 times |
| יִהְיֶ֣ה | yihyeh | it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| תָמִ֔יד | tamid | continually | H8548 → | 104 times |
| הֶעָנָ֖ן | heanan | the cloud | H6051 → | 87 times |
| יְכַסֶּ֑נּוּ | yekhassenu | it covered it | H3680 → | 152 times |
| וּמַרְאֵה־ | umareh- | and [the] appearance of | H4758 → | 103 times |
| אֵ֖שׁ | ʾesh | fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| לָֽיְלָה׃ | layelah | night | H3915 → | 233 times |
כֵּ֚ןthus
kenH3651 →771 times
יִהְיֶ֣הit was
yihyehH1961 →3559 times
תָמִ֔ידcontinually
tamidH8548 →104 times
הֶעָנָ֖ןthe cloud
heananH6051 →87 times
יְכַסֶּ֑נּוּit covered it
yekhassenuH3680 →152 times
וּמַרְאֵה־and [the] appearance of
umareh-H4758 →103 times
אֵ֖שׁfire
ʾeshH784 →378 times
לָֽיְלָה׃night
layelahH3915 →233 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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 40:38For 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.
it leads to
- Psalms 78:14
He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 78:14
Through
2 Corinthians 5:19that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
it leads to
- Isaiah 43:25
I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
- Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
- 1 John 4:10
And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
- 1 John 2:1–2
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
- 1 Timothy 3:16
By common confession, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed in throughout the world,…
- Isaiah 43:25
Through
Psalms 78:14He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.
it leads to
- 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.
- Psalms 105:39
Through
Nehemiah 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.
it leads to
- Exodus 13:21–22
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…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 13:21–22
Where this verse is studied
About Numbers
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.