Whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tent, then after that the children of Israel traveled; and in the place where the cloud remained, there the children of Israel encamped.
Parallel Translations
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Whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tent, then after that the children of Israel traveled; and in the place where the cloud remained, there the children of Israel encamped.
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And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents.
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And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tent, then after that the children of Israel journeyed; and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel encamped.
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Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Numbers 9:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 40:36-38 When the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys; but if the cloud wasn’t taken up, then they didn’t travel until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of Yahweh was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
- Exodus 33:14-15 He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Moses said to him, “If your presence doesn’t go with me, don’t carry us up from here.
- Numbers 10:33-34 They set forward from the Mount of Yahweh three days’ journey. The ark of Yahweh’s covenant went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them. The cloud of Yahweh was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp.
- Psalms 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you.
- Psalms 73:24 You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
- John 10:3-5 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers.”
- John 10:9 I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.
- Numbers 10:11-12 In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the covenant. The children of Israel went forward on their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud stayed in the wilderness of Paran.
- Isaiah 49:10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for he who has mercy on them will lead them. He will guide them by springs of water.
- Psalms 80:1-2 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might! Come to save us!
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 9:17 And when the cloud was taken up…
Num 9:17 And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents.
Ver. 17. And when the cloud.] This visible sign they had of God’s presence, for their motion or station by night or by day, through all their pilgrimage. "In all thy ways acknowledge God, and he shall direct thy paths." {Pro 3:6} "When thou sittest in darkness, the Lord shall give thee light." {Mic 7:8}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Was taken up, or, ascended on high, above its…
Was taken up, or, ascended on high, above its ordinary place, by which it became more visible to all the camp.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain At the commandment of the Lord the children of…
At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed,.... Or "mouth of the Lord"; not that there was any command in form given, or any audible voice heard, directing when to march; but the removal of the cloud was interpretatively the order and command of God for them to move also:
and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched; their tents; when the cloud stopped, they understood that as a signal to them, as a token of the will of God that they should stop likewise; it was to them as an authoritative command, which they obeyed:
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as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle, they rested in their tents; whether a longer or a shorter time, as is after expressed.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Was taken up - Or, ascended on high, above…
Was taken up - Or, ascended on high, above its ordinary place, by which it became more visible to all the camp.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 9:17-19. Was taken up — Or, ascended on…
Num 9:17-19. Was taken up — Or, ascended on high, above its ordinary place, by which it became more visible to all the camp. The motion or stay of the cloud is fitly called the command of God, because it was a signification of God’s will and their duty. The charge — That is, the command of God that they should stay as long as the cloud stayed.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain when the cloud was taken up--that is, rose to…
when the cloud was taken up--that is, rose to a higher elevation, so as to be conspicuous at the remotest extremities of the camp. That was a signal for removal; and, accordingly, it is properly called (Num 9:18) "the commandment of the Lord." It was a visible token of the presence of God; and from it, as a glorious throne, He gave the order. So that its motion regulated the commencement and termination of all the journeys of the Israelites. (See on Exo 14:19).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 17. Taken up… pitched their tents — “The movement…
17. Taken up… pitched their tents — “The movement of the mysterious cloud was the signal for striking or pitching the camp. When it was taken up from off the tabernacle, the advance was sounded on silver trumpets by the Levites, Moses repeating the words, ‘Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee;’ the whole host re-echoing them, far and near, in a mighty shout as the ark moved off before them, ‘to search out their next resting-place.’ In the same way the descent of the cloud to its accustomed place was the intimation to halt, and then, as the ark was once more solemnly laid down from the shoulders of the Kohathites, the prayer, caught up from the lips of Moses and intoned by the whole camp, rose with overpowering sublimity; ‘Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.’” — Geikie. Thus during forty years there was a standing miracle before the eves of all Israel, by day and by night. Yet its moral influence upon the people, becoming semi-natural in their estimation by its long duration, seems to have been very slight. They followed whither the supernatural cloud led the way, but often with unbelieving, lustful, and rebellious hearts. Though often deserving to be abandoned by Jehovah, he continued to guide them. Nehemiah (Neh_9:19) gratefully records the divine compassion: “Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go.” The sublimity of this scene transcends the most poetical imagination, especially when by night the Lord carried his lantern before his bannered hosts in the wilderness.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17) And when the cloud was taken up. .…
(17) And when the cloud was taken up. . . —Only one instance is recorded of disregard of the Divine direction thus miraculously vouchsafed, viz., in Num_14:40-42. It was necessary that the hosts of Israel should be always in a watchful state, and ready to obey at once the intimations given to them of the Divine will, thus affording a striking type and pattern to the Christian Church, and teaching it both collectively and individually to seek and to follow the guidance of its Divine Head, whose promise is “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain When the cloud was taken up. This verse and…
When the cloud was taken up. This verse and the following to the end of the chapter are an amplification of Exo_40:36-38. (cf. Exo_13:21, 22 Neh_9:12 Psa_78:14) It would appear from Exo_13:21 that there was nothing new in the fact of the cloudy fiery pillar directing the movements of the host, but only in the fact of its resting on the tabernacle when in repose. In the place where the cloud abode, or "came down." zkv. As the tabernacle was taken all to pieces, and its portions widely separated on the march, the cloud could not rest upon it as a signal for halting. We must probably picture to ourselves the cloud rising to some considerable height when it was "taken up," so as to be visible for a great distance, and as settling down again over the spot where the tabernacle was to be set up. In this way the signals given by the cloud would be immediately perceived by a vast multitude.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.