Exodus 40:37

37 And if the cloud went not up, they did not prepare to depart, till the day when the cloud went up.

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 And Moses was not able to enter into the tabernacle of testimony, because the cloud overshadowed it, and the tabernacle was filled with the glory of the Lord.

36 And when the cloud went up from the tabernacle, the children of Israel prepared to depart with their baggage.

37 And if the cloud went not up, they did not prepare to depart, till the day when the cloud went up.

38 For a cloud was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night before all Israel, in all their journeyings.