Numbers 9:15–23

The Column of Smoke Leads Israel through the Desert

¹⁵On the day the tent of the words of God’s promise was set up, the ⸤column of⸥ smoke covered it. From evening until morning, the smoke over the tent glowed like fire. ¹⁶The smoke always glowed this way. At night the smoke covering the tent glowed like fire. ¹⁷Whenever the smoke moved from the tent, the Israelites would break camp, and wherever it stopped, the Israelites would set up camp. ¹⁸At the Lord’s command the Israelites would break camp, and at his command they would set up camp. As long as the ⸤column of⸥ smoke stayed over the tent, they would stay in the same place. ¹⁹When the smoke stayed over the tent for a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s command and wouldn’t break camp. ²⁰The same thing happened when the smoke stayed only a few days over the tent: At the Lord’s command they would set up camp, and at his command they would break camp. ²¹Sometimes the ⸤column of⸥ smoke stayed only from evening until morning. When the smoke moved in the morning, they broke camp. Day or night, when the smoke moved, they broke camp. ²²Whether it was two days, a month, or a year, as long as the ⸤column of⸥ smoke stayed over the tent, the Israelites would stay in the same place and not break camp. But when the smoke moved, they would break camp. ²³At the Lord’s command they set up camp, and at his command they broke camp. They obeyed the command that the Lord had given through Moses.