Numbers 9:17

17 1Whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent, afterward * the sons of Israel would then set out; and in the place where * the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp.

Numbers 9:17 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 9:17

And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle
Or went up from it, higher than it was before, yet not out of sight, but hung as it were hovering in the air over the tabernacle, but at some distance from it; this was done by the Lord himself:

then after that the children of Israel journeyed;
as soon as they saw the cloud moving upwards, the Levites took down the tabernacle, and each took their post assigned them in the carriage of it, and the priests blew their trumpets mentioned in ( Numbers 10:2 Numbers 10:4 Numbers 10:8-10 ) , and the whole camp moved and marched on in their journey:

and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel
pitched their tents;
when it stopped and remained without any motion, it was a signal to the children of Israel to stop also, and to set up the tabernacle, and pitch their tents about it by their standards, and according to the order of encampment which had been given them.

Numbers 9:17 In-Context

15 Now on the day that the tabernacle was erected the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle, until morning.
16 So it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
17 Whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent, afterward the sons of Israel would then set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp.
18 At the command of the LORD the sons of Israel would set out, and at the command of the LORD they would camp; as long as the cloud settled over the tabernacle, they remained camped.
19 Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the sons of Israel would keep the LORD'S charge and not set out.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Exodus 40:36-38; Numbers 10:11, 12
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