And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning is literally “And there was when the cloud was from evening until morning,” which means the cloud stayed in some places “only from evening until morning” (Good News Translation), that is, for the shortest possible time.

And when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they set out: See verse 17, especially for the passive construction here.

Or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud was taken up they set out is literally “or at day and at night, and the cloud was taken up, and they set out.” A much clearer model is “Day or night, whenever the cloud was lifted, they would break camp and move on” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .