Exodus 40:37

37 But if the cloud didn't lift, they did not start out. They stayed until the day it lifted.

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 Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled on it. The glory of the LORD filled the holy tent.

36 The people of Israel continued their travels. When the cloud lifted from above the holy tent, they started out.

37 But if the cloud didn't lift, they did not start out. They stayed until the day it lifted.

38 So the cloud of the LORD was above the holy tent during the day. Fire was in the cloud at night. The whole community of Israel could see the cloud during all of their travels.