Psalms 78:14
in Psalms 78He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
In the day-time also he led them with a cloud, And all the 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.
⋯
This verse in Psalms 78
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
A record of God's dealings and the sins of the people is now made. The writer gives the history from the exode to the retreat from Kadesh; then contrasts their sins with their reasons for confidence, shown by a detail of God's dealings in Egypt, and presents a summary of the subsequent history to David's time.
This site's exposition
The archers of Ephraim turned back
on Psalms 78:9-16
Ephraim's archers turned back, and verses 10 and 11 name the failure, a broken covenant and forgotten works. The works come next, wonders in Egypt at Zoan, the sea split, the cloud and fire, and water out of split rock. Delitzsch ties the tribe to its rejection at verse 67.
This site's exposition
a light of fire all night
Exodus 13:21 first describes this pillar. Albert Barnes called it the visible proof of God's presence, so the people had one by day and by night. Charles Spurgeon added that the cloud also shaded the tribes from the glare of the desert sun.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
He that "led them home in the cloud of the day, and in the whole of the night in the illumination of fire" [Psalm 78:14], is able also spiritually to direct goings if faith cries to Him, "Direct my goings after Your word." Of Whom in another place is said, "For Himself shall make your courses right, and shall prolong your goings in peace" through Jesus Christ our Lord, whose Sacrament in this world, as it were in the day, is manifest in the flesh, as if in a cloud; but in the Judgment it will be manifest like as in a terror by night; for then there will be a great tribulation of the world like as it were fire, and it shall shine for the just and shall burn for the unjust.
"Before their fathers the wonders which he did in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis: he split the sea and led them through; he set the waters as if in a wineskin, and led them down in a cloud by day." Let someone say: You do violence to Scripture: for it is said simply of the people of Israel, when they were led out of the land of Egypt, and therefore it is said according to the history; and we read that the ten tribes forsook God, and became idolaters, and that they followed the golden calves.
"And he led them down in a cloud by day." "Behold, the Lord comes into Egypt upon a light cloud." By the light cloud we ought to understand either, properly, the body of the Savior, because it was light and weighed down by no sin; or certainly by the light cloud we ought to understand holy Mary, weighed down by no human seed. Behold, the Lord comes into the Egypt of this world upon a light cloud, the Virgin. "And he led them down in a cloud by day."
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
(3.) How he furnished their camp with fresh water in a dry and thirsty land where no water was, not by opening the bottles of heaven (that would have been a common way), but by broaching a rock (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
In the daytime also he led them with a cloud,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
In the daytime also he led them with a cloud. He did it all. He alone. He brought them into the wilderness, and he led them through it; it is not the Lord's manner to begin a work, and then cease from it while it is incomplete. The cloud both led and shadowed the tribes. It was by day a vast sun screen, rendering the fierce heat of the sun and the glare of the desert sand bearable. And all the night with a light of fire.
In the daytime also he led them with a cloud. He did it all. He alone. He brought them into the wilderness, and he led them through it; it is not the Lord's manner to begin a work, and then cease from it while it is incomplete. The cloud both led and shadowed the tribes. It was by day a vast sun screen, rendering the fierce heat of the sun and the glare of the desert sand bearable. And all the night with a light of fire. So constant was the care of the Great Shepherd that all night and every night the token of his presence was with his people. That cloud which was a shade by day was as a sun by night. Even thus the grace which cools and calms our joys, soothes and solaces our sorrows. What a mercy to have a light of fire with us amid the lonely horrors of the wilderness of affliction. Our God has been all this to us, and shall we prove unfaithful to him? We have felt him to be both shade and light, according as our changing circumstances have required. May this frequently renewed experience knit our hearts to him in firmest bonds.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
In the day-time also he led them with a cloud - That is, the cloud was the visible symbol of his presence, and its movements determined the way in which they were to go. It was “God” who led them, and who adopted this manner of doing it, so that they had “always” with them, by day and by night, a “visible” proof of his presence. There was that with them which could not be ascribed to any natural causes, and which, therefore, “demonstrated” that God was with them, and that as long as they followed the cloud and the pillar of fire they could not err. See Exo 13:21; Exo 14:24. They had the less excuse, therefore, for rebelling against him. And all the night with a light of fire - A column - a pillar - which stood over the camp, and which was a symbol of the divine presence and guidance. The cloud would not be visible by night, nor would the fire be a good guide by day; and hence, the form of the symbol was changed. The same thing, however, was intended by both, and together they were standing proofs of the presence of God.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
as a heap Heb. נד, a tall heap, as Onkelos renders (Exod.:8): “the flowing water stood up like a נֵד,” stood up like a wall.
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. 6 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
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּנְחֵ֣ם | vaiyanchem | and he guided them | H5148 → | 39 times |
| בֶּעָנָ֣ן | beanan | by the cloud | H6051 → | 87 times |
| יוֹמָ֑ם | yomam | by day | H3119 → | 50 times |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַ֝לַּ֗יְלָה | halaylah | the night | H3915 → | 233 times |
| בְּא֣וֹר | beor | by [the] light of | H216 → | 121 times |
| אֵֽשׁ׃ | ʾesh | a fire | H784 → | 378 times |
וַיַּנְחֵ֣םand he guided them
vaiyanchemH5148 →39 times
בֶּעָנָ֣ןby the cloud
beananH6051 →87 times
יוֹמָ֑םby day
yomamH3119 →50 times
וְכָל־and all
vekholH3605 →5413 times
הַ֝לַּ֗יְלָהthe night
halaylahH3915 →233 times
בְּא֣וֹרby [the] light of
beorH216 →121 times
אֵֽשׁ׃a fire
ʾeshH784 →378 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
Psalms 105:39He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the night.
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 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 4:5
Then 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…
- 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…
- 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.
- 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…
- Nehemiah 9:12
Through
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…
it leads to
- Nehemiah 9:27
So You delivered them into the hands of enemies who oppressed them, and in their time of distress they cried out to You. From heaven You heard them, and in Your great compassion You…
- Psalms 106:45
And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.
- Nehemiah 9:27
Through
Exodus 14:24At 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.
it leads to
- 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…
- Exodus 13:21
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies13
On this verse
On this chapter
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 78; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Homily 11, on Psalm 77; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.