Keluaran 14:19-20

14:19 The angel of God, who was going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar ¹  of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. 14:20 It came between the Egyptian camp and the Israelite camp; it was a dark cloud ²  and it lit up the night so that one camp did not come near the other ³  the whole night. ⁴ 

Keluaran 40:34-38

40:34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 40:35 Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 40:36 But when the cloud was lifted up ⁵  from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out ⁶  on all their journeys; 40:37 but if the cloud was not lifted up, then they would not journey further until the day it was lifted up. ⁷  40:38 For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, but fire would be ⁸  on it at night, in plain view ⁹  of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

[14:19]  ¹ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 400-401) makes a good case that there may have been only one pillar, one cloud; it would have been a dark cloud behind it, but in front of it, shining the way, a pillar of fire. He compares the manifestation on Sinai, when the mountain was on fire but veiled by a dark cloud (Deut 4:11; 5:22). See also Exod 13:21; Num 14:14; Deut 1:33; Neh 9:12, 19; Josh 24:7; Pss 78:14; 105:39.

[14:20]  ² tn The two nouns “cloud” and “darkness” form a nominal hendiadys: “and it was the cloud and the darkness” means “and it was the dark cloud.” Perhaps this is what the Egyptians saw, preventing them from observing Moses and the Israelites.

[14:20]  ³ tn Heb “this to this”; for the use of the pronouns in this reciprocal sense of “the one to the other,” see GKC 448 §139.e, n. 3.

[14:20]  ⁴ tc The LXX reads very differently at the end of this verse: “and there was darkness and blackness and the night passed.” B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 218) summarizes three proposals: (1) One takes the MT as it stands and explains it along the lines of the Targum and Jewish exegesis, that there was one cloud that was dark to one group and light to the other. (2) Another tries to reconstruct a verb from the noun “darkness” or make some use of the Greek verb. (3) A third seeks a different meaning for the verb “lit,” “gave light” by comparative philology, but no consensus has been reached. Given that there is no easy solution apart from reconstructing the text, and given that the MT can be interpreted as it is, the present translation follows the MT.

[40:36]  ⁵ tn The construction uses the Niphal infinitive construct to form the temporal clause.

[40:36]  ⁶ tn The imperfect tense in this context describes a customary action.

[40:37]  ⁷ tn The clause uses the Niphal infinitive construct in the temporal clause: “until the day of its being taken up.”

[40:38]  ⁸ tn Here is another imperfect tense of the customary nuance.

[40:38]  ⁹ tn Heb “to the eyes of all”; KJV, ASV, NASB “in the sight of all”; NRSV “before the eyes of all.”