Numbers 10:34

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The cloud of Yahweh was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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יוֹמָ֑ם

yôwmâm

H3119

“daytime”

Adverb

Appears 51× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 13:21

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H3117

TWOT: 852a

by day, in the daytime (adverb) - daytime (substantive)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

7: words
7: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

יוֹמָ֑ם daytime H3119 occurs in 50 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

1 verb
3 nouns
2 prepositions
1 adverb

Verb forms

בְּנָסְעָ֖ם Qal · Infinitive Construct

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 16 words from the Hebrew and 13 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Numbers 10:34 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Nehemiah 9:12 Moreover in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go.
Nehemiah 9:19 yet you in your manifold mercies didn't forsake them in the wilderness: the pillar of cloud didn't depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go.
Psalms 105:39 He spread a cloud for a covering, Fire to give light in the night.
Exodus 13:21–22 Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night:
Numbers 9:15–23 On the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, even the Tent of the Testimony: and at evening it was over the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until morning.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Numbers 10:34 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַעֲנַ֧ן יְהוָ֛ה עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם יוֹמָ֑ם בְּנָסְעָ֖ם מִן הַֽמַּחֲנֶֽה

The cloud of Yahweh was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 10:34 Septuagint · lemma form

καί γίγνομαι ἐν ὁ ἐκαἴρω ὁ κιβωτός καί εἶπον μωυσῆς ἐκἀγείρω κύριος διασκορπίζω ὁ ἐχθρός σύ φεύγω πᾶς ὁ μισέω σύ

And the cloud overshadowed them by day, when they departed from the camp.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וַעֲנַן יְקָרָא דַיְיָ מַטֵיל עֲלֵיהוֹן בִּימָמָא בְּמֵטַלְהוֹן מִן מַשְׁרִיתָא

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וַעֲנַן אִיקַר שְׁכִינְתָּא דַיְיָ מְטַלֵיל עִילַוֵיהוֹן בִּימָמָא בְּמֵטַלְהוֹן מִן מַשְׁרִיתָא

And the Cloud of the Lord's Shekinah overshadowed them by day in their going out from the encampment.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Numbers 10:34 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Num 10:34. By day — And by night too, as was expressed before. So we must learn to compare places of Scripture, and to supply the defects of one out of another, as we do in all authors.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

34. the cloud of Jehovah was over them] This appears to mean ‘over the Tabernacle’ as it was carried in the line of march, in which case the passage is from P and is the continuation of Num_10:28. The expression ‘cloud of Jehovah’ occurs elsewhere only in Exo_40:38 (P ), but that is perhaps a wrong reading for ‘the cloud was’ (יִהְיֶה). See below on Num_14:14.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

And by night too, as was expressed before. So we must learn to compare places of Scripture, and to supply the defects of one out of another, as we do in all authors.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

34. The cloud… was upon them — Or, above them. This may be interpreted in two ways: (1.) The pillar at its upper extremity may have floated back, spreading out as a protecting shade over the whole procession, as is intimated in Psa_105:39; or, (2.) It may be regarded as a poetical representation of the fact of protection by the pillar. Num_10:33-34 are quite poetical.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

The cloud of the Lord was upon them by day. It would seem as if the cloud, which was luminous by night, dense and dark by day, spread itself upwards and backwards from over the ark, overshadowing the host as it followed a refreshment at any rate to those who were near, perhaps to all, and a guiding beacon to those who were afar. To what extent the people at large were able to enjoy this shade amidst the burning heats of the desert we cannot possibly tell, but there is no doubt that it dwelt in the memory of the nation, and gave meaning to such expressions as the "shadow of the Almighty", (Psa_91:1) and "the shadow of a cloud". (Isa_25:4, Isa_25:5)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

By day - And by night too, as was expressed before. So we must learn to compare places of scripture, and to supply the defects of one out of another, as we do in all authors.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

וענן ה׳ עליהם יומם AND THE CLOUD OF THE LORD WAS UPON THEM BY DAY — Seven times is the word ענן used in the account of their journeys alluding to four clouds which screened them on all four sides, one that was above them, one beneath their feet, and one in front of them which leveled the elevations and raised the depressions, and killed all serpents and scorpions (Sifrei Bamidbar 83:1; Mekhilta; Br. d’ Melechet ha-Mishkan 14).

FROM THE CAMP — From the place where they encamped.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 7 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is yôwmâm (“daytime”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “daytime” (yôwmâm) shape what this verse is saying?
Exodus 13:21 shares the word «daytime» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «בְּנָסְעָ֖ם» is Qal Infinitive Construct. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Joseph Benson's Commentary and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 8 words in this verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 7 words in this verse.