Whether it was two days, or one month, or a long time that the cloud dwelt over the tabernacle, the Israelites dwelt in their tents and did not journey. But when it was lifted up they journeyed.
Now the length of time it took for us to come to Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war perished from among the army, just as the Lord swore to them.
Command the people, saying: You are to pass through the territory of your brothers, the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and they shall be afraid of you. So carefully watch yourselves.
“For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the works of your hands. He knows your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”