Exodus 40:37

37 But if the cloud didn't rise, then they didn't set out until the day it rose.

Exodus 40:37 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 40:37

But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed
not
Even if it continued so two days, or a month, or a year, as very probably it sometimes did; which will in some measure account for the long continuance of the Israelites in the wilderness, see ( Numbers 9:22 )

till the day that it was taken up:
or, "of its ascent" ^F6, being "lifted up", or going upwards, higher in the air, right over the tabernacle, or perhaps more to the front of it; the word used before in this and the preceding verse has the signification of ascending upwards.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 (wtleh) "sustolli ejus", Montanus.

Exodus 40:37 In-Context

35 Moses couldn't enter the meeting tent because the cloud had settled on it, and the LORD's glorious presence filled the dwelling.

36 Whenever the cloud rose from the dwelling, the Israelites would set out on their journeys.

37 But if the cloud didn't rise, then they didn't set out until the day it rose.

38 The LORD's cloud stayed over the dwelling during the day, with lightning in it at night, clearly visible to the whole household of Israel at every stage of their journey.