Numbers 10:34

And the cloud of the LORD was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The narrator records the Israelites' departure from the mountain of the LORD. This moment follows the ark's three-day advance to secure a resting place.

The words — עֲנַן ('anan) means "cloud" and identifies the visible presence of the LORD. בְּ/נָסְעָם (be/na'se'am) translates as "when they set out" and pinpoints the exact action of leaving the camp.

The thread — The same guiding cloud appears in Nehemiah 9:12 and Nehemiah 9:19 as the wilderness route marker. Psalm 105:39 references the cloud as a covering during the exodus.

Why it lands — The verse states a factual arrangement of divine positioning during movement. It requires the reader to recognize that the community's forward progress was contingent on the cloud's placement, not human strategy.

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

וַעֲנַ֧ןva./'a.Nanand/ [the] cloud of יְהוָ֛הYah.wehYahweh עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם'a.lei./Hem[was] over/ them יוֹמָ֑םyo.Mamby day בְּנָסְעָ֖םbe./na.se.'A/mwhen/ set out/ they מִן־min-from הַֽמַּחֲנֶֽה׃ ׆ סHa./ma.cha.Nehthe/ camp

King James Version

And the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day, when they went out of the camp.

Cross-references

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.
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 fire illuminated the way they should go.
Psalms 105:39 He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the 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.