Bilangan 9:18-20

9:18 At the commandment ¹  of the Lord the Israelites would begin their journey, and at the commandment of the Lord they would make camp; as long as ²  the cloud remained settled over the tabernacle they would camp. 9:19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, then the Israelites obeyed the instructions ³  of the Lord and did not journey.

9:20 When ⁴  the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, ⁵  they remained camped according to the Lord’s commandment, ⁶  and according to the Lord’s commandment they would journey.

[9:18]  ¹ tn Heb “at the mouth of” (so also in vv. 20, 23).

[9:18]  ² tn Heb “all the days of – that the cloud settled over the tabernacle.” “All” is the adverbial accusative of time telling how long they camped in one spot – all. The word is then qualified by the genitive of the thing measured – “all of the days” – and this in turn is qualified by a noun clause functioning as a genitive after “days of.”

[9:19]  ³ tn This is the same Hebrew expression that was used earlier for the Levites “keeping their charge” or more clearly, “fulfilling their obligations” to take care of the needs of the people and the sanctuary. It is a general expression using שָׁמַר (shamar) followed by its cognate noun מִשְׁמֶרֶת (mishmeret).

[9:20]  ⁴ tn The sentence uses וְיֵשׁ (vÿyesh) followed by a noun clause introduced with אֲשֶׁר (’asher) to express an existing situation; it is best translated as an adverbial clause of time: “and it was when the cloud was….”

[9:20]  ⁵ tn The word “number” is in apposition to the word “days” to indicate that their stay was prolonged for quite a few days.

[9:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “mouth of the Lord.”