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The Cloud and the Fire

15 On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant;^* and from evening until morning it was over the tabernacle, having the appearance of fire. ¹⁶It was always so: the cloud covered it by day^* and the appearance of fire by night. ¹⁷Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, then the Israelites would set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the Israelites would camp. ¹⁸At the command of the Lord the Israelites would set out, and at the command of the Lord they would camp. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they would remain in camp. ¹⁹Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle for many days, the Israelites would keep the charge of the Lord, and would not set out. ²⁰Sometimes the cloud would remain for a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the Lord they would remain in camp; then according to the command of the Lord they would set out. ²¹Sometimes the cloud would remain from evening until morning; and when the cloud lifted in the morning, they would set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they would set out. ²²Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, resting upon it, the Israelites would remain in camp and would not set out; but when it lifted they would set out. ²³At the command of the Lord they would camp, and at the command of the Lord they would set out. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses.

29 Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, ‘We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, “I will give it to you”; come with us, and we will treat you well; for the Lord has promised good to Israel.’ ³⁰But he said to him, ‘I will not go, but I will go back to my own land and to my kindred.’ ³¹He said, ‘Do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. ³²Moreover, if you go with us, whatever good the Lord does for us, the same we will do for you.’

33 So they set out from the mount of the Lord on three days’ journey with the ark of the covenant of the Lord going before them for three days’ journey, to seek out a resting-place for them, ³⁴the cloud of the Lord being over them by day when they set out from the camp.

35 Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say,
‘Arise, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered,
   and your foes flee before you.’
³⁶And whenever it came to rest, he would say,
‘Return, O Lord of the ten thousand thousands of Israel.’^*