The pillar of clouds (image)

Hand colored stencil print on momigami by Sadao Watanabe (1982).

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe.

For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

Following is an artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India:

For more information about images by Sister Marie Claire and ways to purchase them as lithographs, see here .

For other images of Sister Marie Claire paintings in TIPs, see here.

complete verse (Exodus 13:22)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 13:22:

  • Kupsabiny: “That cloud went in front of the people during (the) day and during night the fire was in front.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night departed from them.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The thick cloud which-is like (a) pilar were- always -ahead-of them during the day, and during the night, the fire which-is like (a) pillar.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “All the time in the day, that cloud was walking ahead of them, and all the time at night that fire was going ahead of them also.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “During daytime and night, there is no hour when pillar of cloud and pillar of fire not for them was preceding.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “The tall cloud did not leave them. It was always in front of them, as a bright white cloud in the daytime and like a fire at night.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 13:22

Did not depart from before the people means “did not withdraw, give way, or fail to be present.” Revised English Bible has “never left its place in front of the people,” but this should not suggest that the pillar never moved. (See verse 21.) This may be said positively, “was always in front of the people” (Good News Translation).

Contemporary English Version combines verses 21 and 22, summarizing the content of verse 22 with the phrase “at all times”:

• During the day the LORD went ahead of his people in a thick cloud, and during the night he went ahead of them in a flaming fire. That way the LORD could lead them at all times, whether day or night.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .