The order of the phrases and clauses in Revised Standard Version reflects the structure of the Hebrew text. The phrases in fire by night and in the cloud by day should be clearly connected to the verbal phrase “to show you the way you should go,” as done in Good News Translation.

Went before you in the way: that is, “went ahead of you on your journey,” or “went ahead of you [or, us] as you [or, we] walked through the wilderness.”

To seek out a place to pitch your tents can be translated “to find a place where you could camp”; but in some languages “to find a place where you could erect [or, put up] your tents” will be more natural. The reader must be able to understand what was involved in this kind of travel, where tents were set up and taken down as the Israelites traveled through the wilderness. Moses would have included himself as one of the Israelites, so it may be necessary to change the second person pronouns to first person inclusive throughout.

To show you by what way you should go: Yahweh went ahead of the people in a cloud by day and in a column of fire by night (Exo 13.21-22), to show them the direction they should take, and this may be shown in translation: “leading us in the right direction and showing us where to camp” (Contemporary English Version). In fire by night (Good News Translation “pillar of fire”) may be also expressed as “in a flaming fire at night,” or even “in a fire in the form of a column [or, pillar].” In the cloud by day may be rendered in a similar way. However, in cultures where “pillars” and “columns” are unknown, a general model like “in a thick cloud” or “in a flaming fire” is possible.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• even though he always went ahead of us in the wilderness. During the daytime the LORD was in a column of cloud, leading us in the right direction and showing us where to set up our tents. And at night he was present in a column of fire.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .