Numbers 9:18

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

At the commandment of Yahweh, the children of Israel traveled, and at the commandment of Yahweh they encamped. As long as the cloud remained on the tabernacle they remained encamped.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

Septuagint runs longer here — compare

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הֶעָנָ֛ן

ʻânân

H6051

“the · cloud”

Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 87× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 9:13

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H6049

TWOT: 1655a

cloud, cloudy, cloud-mass - cloud-mass (of theophanic cloud) - cloud

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 →

18: words
13: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

4 verbs
10 nouns
3 prepositions
1 particle

Verb forms

יִסְעוּ֙ Qal · Imperfect
יַחֲנ֑וּ Qal · Imperfect
יִשְׁכֹּ֧ן Qal · Imperfect
יַחֲנֽוּ Qal · Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

עַל upon H5921 ×3
פִּ֣י mouth H6310 ×2
יְהוָ֗ה LORD H3068 ×2
יַחֲנ֑וּ to encamp H2583 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 30 words from the Hebrew and 67 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably longer here. See the side-by-side →

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.

In the original languages it is 18 Hebrew tokens and 29 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Numbers 9:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

1 Corinthians 10:1 Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
Exodus 17:1 All the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to Yahweh's commandment, and encamped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.
2 John 1:6 This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.
Numbers 9:20 Sometimes the cloud was a few days on the tabernacle; then according to the commandment of Yahweh they remained encamped, and according to the commandment of Yahweh they traveled.
Numbers 10:13 They first took their journey according to the commandment of Yahweh by Moses.

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.

Here the Septuagint runs noticeably longer than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 67 words vs World English Bible 30. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.

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

Hebrew Numbers 9:18 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

עַל פִּ֣י יְהוָ֗ה יִסְעוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְעַל פִּ֥י יְהוָ֖ה יַחֲנ֑וּ כָּל יְמֵ֗י אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִשְׁכֹּ֧ן הֶעָנָ֛ן עַל הַמִּשְׁכָּ֖ן יַחֲנֽוּ

At the commandment of Yahweh, the children of Israel traveled, and at the commandment of Yahweh they encamped. As long as the cloud remained on the tabernacle they remained encamped.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 9:18 Septuagint · lemma form

διά πρόσταγμα κύριος παρα ἐνβάλλω ὁ υἱός ἰσραήλ καί διά πρόσταγμα κύριος ἀποαἴρω πᾶς ὁ ἡμέρα ἐν ὅς σκιάζω ὁ νεφέλη ἐπί ὁ σκηνή παρα ἐνβάλλω ὁ υἱός ἰσραήλ

The children of Israel shall encamp by the command of the Lord, and by the command of the Lord they shall remove: all the days in which the cloud overshadows the tabernacle, the children of Israel shall encamp. And whenever the cloud shall be drawn over the tabernacle for many days, then the children of Israel shall keep the charge of God, and they shall not remove.

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)

עַל מֵימְרָא דַיְיָ נָטְלִין בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַל מֵימְרָא דַיְיָ שָׁרָן כָּל יוֹמִין דִי שָׁרֵי עֲנָנָא עַל מַשְׁכְּנָא שָׁרָן

(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)

עַל פּוּם מֵימְרָא דַיְיָ נַטְלִין בְּנֵי יִשְרָאֵל וְעַל פּוּם מֵימְרָא דַיְיָ שָׁרָן כָּל יוֹמִין דְשָׁרֵי עֲנַן יְקָרָא עַל מַשְׁכְּנָא בְּרַם הִינוּן שָׁרָן

By the mouth of the Word of the Lord the children of Israel went forward, and by the Word of the Lord they rested. All the days that the Cloud of Glory abode upon the Tabernacle, (so long) did they abide.

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 9:18 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 →

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Who taught them what to do by the cloud.

Hebrew, mouth.

Hebrew, camped.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

18. at the commandment] lit. ‘mouth.’ Not only was a sign given by the cloud, but Jehovah used to give an oral command to Moses when the march was to begin and end.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days,.... Or years, for days are sometimes put for years, and in some places the cloud tarried several years; or however, if it stayed but a month or a year in any place, as in Num 9:22,

then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord, and journeyed not; they not only kept watching when it would move, or set sentinels for that purpose to observe it, but they kept the charge, order, or commandment, which the tarrying of the cloud was a token of, and did not attempt to proceed in their journey until they had an intimation so to do by its motion; and all this while, likewise, the tabernacle being up, they observed all the precepts and ordinances of the Lord in the service of it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

The motion or stay of the cloud is fitly called the command of God, because it was a signification of God’s will and their duty, which a command properly is.

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

18. At the commandment of the Lord — As indicated by the moving or resting cloud, they journeyed. C. Wesley thus beautifully spiritualizes this passage:

“To work for God is good,

If God our work ordain;

But stayed by the incumbent cloud

We in our place remain.

To cease from work is best,

If after Jesus’ will;

For when at his command we rest

We please our Saviour still.”

“God’s commands — halt, forward, the right, or left — were not heard, but were seen. His signal service was equally good by night or day. Banners more beautiful than sunrise, and brighter than stars, testify the Leader’s presence. Ballooning is a pitiable device for discerning roads, food, water, or enemies, compared with the sleepless eye in the uplifted chariot of cloud.

“It was not only guidance, but protection; a cover from the excessive heat of the desert. I myself went down into the plain of the Dead Sea under threat of intolerable heat; but God canopied the whole day with a cloud and a shield from the sun. Quails, manna, divided sea, and imperishable shoes are no more evident signs of God’s care than the cover by day and the light by night. ‘I will abide under the shadow of the Almighty.’” — Bishop H.W. Warren.

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

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

The motion or stay of the cloud is fitly called the command of God, because it was a signification of God's will and their duty.

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

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

At Yahweh's command

The word "command" can be expressed as a verb. AT: "When Yahweh commanded" (See: Abstract Nouns)

translationWords

Yahweh

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

(על פי ה’ יסעו (18 ” AT THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD [THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL] JOURNEYED — We have learned in the Boraitha dealing with “the structure of the Tabernacle” (s. 13), “As soon as the Israelites set forth on a journey the pillar of cloud rolled itself up (contracted itself) and extended itself out above the camp of the sons of Judah, like a beam, whereupon they blew a “Tekiah”, a “Teruah”, and another “Tekiah”. It (the cloud) did not, however, move off until Moses said, (Numbers 10:35): “Rise up, O Lord!” — the latter statement is to be found in the Sifrei Bamidbar 84:5 (on the verse quoted) — and then the banner of the camp of Judah marched forward.

ועל פי ה' יחנו AT THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD THEY ENCAMPED — As soon as the Israelites encamped the pillar of cloud rose in a column and extended itself above the camp of the sons of Judah like the roof of a hut, and did not depart until Moses said, (Numbers 10:36), “Return, O Lord, unto the myriads of thousands of Israel!” — You must say (admit; more lit., be saying) that this is the meaning of (Numbers 10:23) “at the commandment of the Lord [they encamped and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed...]” but also by the agency of Moses (Sifrei Bamidbar 84:5).

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 18 words (13 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʻânân (“cloud”). The Greek Septuagint runs longer here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “cloud” (ʻânân) shape what this verse is saying?
1 Corinthians 10:1 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
“upon” occurs 3× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
Compared with the Hebrew, the Septuagint runs longer here. What questions does that raise?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «יִסְעוּ֙» is Qal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Geneva Bible (1599) 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

This verse counts 18 Hebrew ↔ 29 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 24 words in this verse.
“upon” occurs 3× in this single verse.
13 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 18 words in this verse.