Numbers 9:17

17 When the cloud moved from its place over the Tent, the Israelites moved, and wherever the cloud stopped, the Israelites camped.

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 On the day the Holy Tent, the Tent of the Agreement, was set up, a cloud covered it. From dusk until dawn the cloud above the Tent looked like fire.

16 The cloud stayed above the Tent, and at night it looked like fire.

17 When the cloud moved from its place over the Tent, the Israelites moved, and wherever the cloud stopped, the Israelites camped.

18 So the Israelites moved at the Lord's command, and they camped at his command. While the cloud stayed over the Tent, they remained camped.

19 Sometimes the cloud stayed over the Tent for a long time, but the Israelites obeyed the Lord and did not move.