Matthew 17:5, the cloud that covers them...... God?

In the Old Testament and the New, God is very often described as speaking out of a bright cloud, a cloud of fire, pillar of fire, a blinding light, they're all pretty consistent. The Burning Bush is a little different. The passages above you list, is where God Himself transfigures Jesus and proclaims Him from a 'cloud' (as God used to speak to the Hebrew's at Mt. Sinai from), ..His Son. This event appears in the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, and Luke (all believed to have been written down about 30 years after Jesus's execution, that occurred in c.33AD).