Some critics claim that the biblical accounts involve psychoactive drugs. Regarding Exodus 33:9, one critic argues:

> When the thick veil was drawn back, smoke would come pouring out of the chamber to rise up from the tabernacle door. Exodus has a famous pillar of smoke, at the door of the tabernacle rather than over the Holy of Holies at the back of the tent... The most controversial addition here is "the LORD", because of all the popular translations only The Hebrew Names Version Bible faithfully relates that it was the cloud itself that spoke with Moses.

Is this true of the textual evidence for the verse in question (Exodus 33:9)? It is true that "the Lord" is added for clarity, but the addition is far from unwarranted as the full context of verses 33:7-11 makes clear:

> Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, at a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. Anyone seeking the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp. And when Moses went out to the tent, all the people would get up and stand at the entrance to their tents and watch Moses until he entered the tent. And whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. When all the people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people, each one at the entrance of his own tent, would rise and worship. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, the way a person speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent.

The idea that it was the "cloud" speaking therefore strains the narrative to the breaking point. It is clearly YHWH who is the communicating entity, not the cloud. (The NET Bible, for reference, further indicates that "he" is given as the subject.) The attempt to add assumptions to the narrative to turn it into a psychedelic drug trip by Moses is entirely without merit.