Numbers 9:14-23

14 And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and would hold the passover to Jehovah, according to the rite of the passover, and according to the ordinance thereof, so shall he do. Ye shall have one rite, both for the stranger and for him that is born in the land.
15 And on the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle of the tent of testimony; and at even it was upon the tabernacle as the appearance of fire, until the morning.
16 So it was continually: the cloud covered it, and at night it was as the appearance of fire.
17 And when the cloud rose from the tent, then the children of Israel journeyed; and at the place where the cloud stood still, there the children of Israel encamped.
18 According to the commandment of Jehovah the children of Israel journeyed, and according to the commandment of Jehovah they [remained] encamped; all the days that the cloud dwelt upon the tabernacle they encamped.
19 And when the cloud was long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of Jehovah, and journeyed not.
20 And if it were so that the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle, according to the commandment of Jehovah they encamped, and according to the commandment of Jehovah they journeyed.
21 And if it were so that the cloud was there from the evening until the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed; or a day and a night, and the cloud was taken up, they journeyed;
22 or two days, or a month, or many days, when the cloud was long upon the tabernacle, dwelling upon it, the children of Israel [remained] encamped, and journeyed not; but when it was taken up, they journeyed.
23 At the commandment of Jehovah they encamped, and at the commandment of Jehovah they journeyed: they kept the charge of Jehovah according to the commandment of Jehovah through Moses.

Numbers 9:14-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 9

In this chapter the command for keeping the passover is repeated, and it was accordingly kept, Nu 9:1-5; but some persons being defiled and disqualified for observing it, Moses inquires of the Lord, on their solicitation, what should be done in such a case, Nu 9:6-8; when it was ordered to be kept by such, and those on journeys, on the fourteenth day of the second month, but not by others, who were to observe it according to its first appointment, Nu 9:9-14; and an account is given of the appearance of the cloud by day, and fire by night, upon the tabernacle, which directed the children of Israel when to journey, and when to pitch their tents, Nu 9:15-23.

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Or 'sojourner,' as Ex. 12.48; Lev. 20.2.
  • [b]. Lit. 'dwelt,' 'abode:' so ver. 18; ch. 10.12; see Ex. 24.16.
  • [c]. Others read 'whether it was by day or by night when the cloud.'
  • [d]. Elsewhere also 'a year.'
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.