Numbers 10:34

Summary

The verse states that the cloud identified with Yehovah (H3068G) remained over the Israelites during the daytime, specifically at the moment they set out from the camp. It is a short nominal/temporal clause describing a recurring circumstance of the wilderness journeys rather than a single event.

Key words

• 'anan ("cloud of", H6051) — construct singular noun, syntactically bound to the following name, producing the phrase "cloud of Yehovah" rather than "cloud" as an independent subject.
• Yehovah (H3068G) — the divine name functioning as the genitive complement of 'anan, marking whose cloud is meant.
• 'alei-hem ("over them", H5921A + H9038) — preposition with third-person masculine plural suffix, indicating the cloud's position relative to the group without naming them again as a noun.
• yomam ("by day", H3119) — adverb specifying the temporal scope of the cloud's presence, distinguishing it from nighttime (addressed in the preceding verses).
• be-nase'am ("when they set out", H9003 + H5265 + H9048) — preposition attached to an infinitive with pronominal suffix, forming a temporal clause ("in their setting out") that pinpoints the moment of departure from the camp.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause has no finite verb of being; it is built as a construct chain ('anan Yehovah, "cloud of Yehovah") followed by a prepositional phrase ('alei-hem, "over them") and an adverb (yomam, "by day"). This nominal structure presents the cloud's presence as a stated fact rather than an event being narrated with a main verb. The second half of the verse, be-nase'am min-ha-machaneh ("when they set out from the camp"), uses an infinitive construct with a pronominal suffix functioning as its subject, a common Hebrew way of expressing "when they did X" without a separate conjugated verb. This ties the cloud's daytime presence specifically to the moments of departure from the camp, rather than describing a constant, unbroken state.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint (LXX) renders the clause with a finite verb, ἐγένετο σκιάζουσα ("became overshadowing"), supplying an action verb where the Hebrew has only a nominal construction; it also reads simply "the cloud" (ἡ νεφέλη) without repeating "of the Lord," unlike the Hebrew construct phrase 'anan Yehovah. The Vulgate, by contrast, keeps "Domini" ("of the Lord") and adds the verb erat ("was"), aligning more closely with the Hebrew's implied sense of a state of being, though the Hebrew itself expresses this without any explicit verb.