Numbers 9:16

16 sic fiebat iugiter per diem operiebat illud nubes et per noctem quasi species ignis

Numbers 9:16 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 9:16

So it was alway
Night and day, as long as the people of Israel were in the wilderness, see ( Exodus 13:21 Exodus 13:22 ) ( Nehemiah 9:19 ) ;

the cloud covered it [by day]:
the phrase, "by day", is not in the text, but is easily and necessarily supplied from ( Exodus 40:38 ) ; and as it is in the Targum of Jonathan, and in the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and which the following clause requires:

and the appearance of fire by night;
when as a cloud it could not be because of the darkness of the night; as in the daytime it could not be discerned as a body of fire or light, because of the light of the sun; but being seen under these different forms, was serviceable both by day and night, for the following purposes.

Numbers 9:16 In-Context

14 peregrinus quoque et advena si fuerit apud vos faciet phase Domini iuxta caerimonias et iustificationes eius praeceptum idem erit apud vos tam advenae quam indigenae

15 igitur die qua erectum est tabernaculum operuit illud nubes a vespere autem super tentorium erat quasi species ignis usque mane

16 sic fiebat iugiter per diem operiebat illud nubes et per noctem quasi species ignis

17 cumque ablata fuisset nubes quae tabernaculum protegebat tunc proficiscebantur filii Israhel et in loco ubi stetisset nubes ibi castrametabantur

18 ad imperium Domini proficiscebantur et ad imperium illius figebant tabernaculum cunctis diebus quibus stabat nubes super tabernaculum manebant in eodem loco