Numbers 9:19

19 And if it befelled that it dwelled much time upon the tabernacle, the sons of Israel were in the watches of the Lord, and they went not forth, (And if it befell that it stayed a long time over the Tabernacle, the Israelites kept watch for the Lord, and they did not go forth,)

Numbers 9:19 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 9:19

And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many
days
Or years, for days are sometimes put for years, and in some places the cloud tarried several years; or however, if it stayed but a month or a year in any place, as in ( Numbers 9:22 ) ;

then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord, and journeyed
not;
they not only kept watching when it would move, or set sentinels for that purpose to observe it, but they kept the charge, order, or commandment, which the tarrying of the cloud was a token of, and did not attempt to proceed in their journey until they had an intimation so to do by its motion; and all this while, likewise, the tabernacle being up, they observed all the precepts and ordinances of the Lord in the service of it.

Numbers 9:19 In-Context

17 And when the cloud that covered the tabernacle was taken away, then the sons of Israel went forth; and in the place where the cloud stood, there they setted tents. (And when the cloud that covered the Tabernacle lifted up, and moved away, then the Israelites went forth; and in the place where the cloud stopped, there they pitched their tents.)

18 At the commandment of the Lord they went forth, and at his commandment they setted (up) the tabernacle. In all the days in which the cloud stood upon the tabernacle, they dwelled in the same place. (At the Lord's command they went forth, and at his command they put up the Tabernacle. And all the days in which the cloud stood over the Tabernacle, they remained in the same place.)

19 And if it befelled that it dwelled much time upon the tabernacle, the sons of Israel were in the watches of the Lord, and they went not forth, (And if it befell that it stayed a long time over the Tabernacle, the Israelites kept watch for the Lord, and they did not go forth,)

20 in how many ever days the cloud was upon the tabernacle. At the commandment of the Lord they raised [the] tents, and at his commandment they did them down. (for however many days the cloud stood over the Tabernacle. At the Lord's command they raised the tents, and at his command they did them down.)

21 If the cloud was standing upon the tabernacle from the eventide unto the morrowtide, and anon in the morrowtide had left, or gone thence, they went forth; and if, after a day and a night, the cloud had gone away, they scattered, either did down, the tents. (If the cloud stood over the Tabernacle from the evening until the morning, and then in the morning had left, or had gone away, they went forth at once; or if, after only a day, or only a night, the cloud went away, then they scattered, or did down, the tents, and they moved on.)