Exodus 40:38

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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The narrator describes the ongoing condition of the tabernacle during the Israelites' wilderness journeys. The statement follows the completion of the tabernacle's erection and the descent of the divine presence.

The words — עֲנַן ('anan) translates literally as "cloud," and אֵשׁ ('esh) means "fire." These nouns specify the dual visible forms that covered the structure.

The thread — This cloud and fire guidance recurs in Exodus 13:21 at the initial departure, Numbers 9:15 at the tabernacle's first covering, and Psalms 78:14 in retrospective praise.

Why it lands — The text states that movement depended entirely on the cloud's lifting or remaining, visible to all the house of Israel. It requires the reader to accept divine direction as a visible, non-negotiable signal rather than a matter of human planning.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

כִּי֩kifor עֲנַ֨ן'a.Nan[the] cloud of יְהוָ֤הYah.wehYahweh עַֽל־'al-[was] over הַמִּשְׁכָּן֙ha./mish.Kanthe/ tabernacle יוֹמָ֔םyo.Mamby day וְאֵ֕שׁve./'Eshand/ fire תִּהְיֶ֥הtih.Yehit was לַ֖יְלָהLay.lahnightבּ֑וֹb/oon <the>/ itלְעֵינֵ֥יle./'ei.Neito/ [the] eyes of כָל־khol-all בֵּֽית־beit-[the] house of יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לYis.ra.'ElIsrael בְּכָל־be./kholin/ all מַסְעֵיהֶֽם׃mas.'ei./Hemjourneyings/ their

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Psalms 78:14 He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.
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 by day or night.
Numbers 9:15 On 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.
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 will be a canopy,
Psalms 105:39 He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the night.