Trumpet

A musical instrument with a loud, piercing sound, used as a signal, both in times of war and of peace. It was also used extensively in Israelite worship and was frequently associated with divine activity.

Trumpets used to summon the Israelites

Numbers 10:1–7 See also Isaiah 27:13

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make two trumpets of hammered silver to be used for calling the congregation and for having the camps set out. When both are sounded, the whole congregation is to assemble before you at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. But if only one is sounded, then the leaders, the heads of the clans of Israel, are to gather before you. When you sound short blasts, the camps that lie on the east side are to set out. When you sound the short blasts a second time, the camps that lie on the south side are to set out. The blasts are to signal them to set out. To convene the assembly, you are to sound long blasts, not short ones.

Trumpets sounded to announce religious festivals

Leviticus 25:8–12 See also Leviticus 23:24; Numbers 10:10, Numbers 29:1; Psalm 81:3–4 The NIV usually translates the Hebrew word “shophar” as “trumpet”, but in this instance it is translated “ram's horn”; Joel 2:15

And you shall count off seven Sabbaths of years — seven times seven years — so that the seven Sabbaths of years amount to forty-nine years. Then you are to sound the horn far and wide on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. You shall sound it throughout your land. So you are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and to his clan. The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you; you are not to sow the land or reap its aftergrowth or harvest the untended vines. For it is a Jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You may eat only the crops taken directly from the field.

Trumpets sounded to attract public attention

2 Samuel 20:1 See also 1 Samuel 13:3; Matthew 6:2

Now a worthless man named Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjamite, happened to be there, and he blew the ram’s horn and shouted: “We have no share in David, no inheritance in Jesse’s son. Every man to his tent, O Israel!”

Trumpets blown to announce the accession of a king

1 Kings 1:39 See also 2 Samuel 15:10; 1 Kings 1:34, 1 Kings 1:41–43; 2 Kings 9:13, 2 Kings 11:14 parallel 2 Chronicles 23:13

Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the ram’s horn, and all the people proclaimed, “Long live King Solomon!”

Trumpets used to warn of impending danger

Blow the ram’s horn in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy mountain! Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the Day of the LORD is coming; indeed, it is near—

Use of the trumpet in war

As a call to arms

Judges 6:33–35 See also Judges 3:27–28; Nehemiah 4:16–20; Isaiah 18:3; Jeremiah 51:27; Ezekiel 7:14; 1 Corinthians 14:8

Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. So the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, who blew the ram’s horn and rallied the Abiezrites behind him. Calling them to arms, Gideon sent messengers throughout Manasseh, as well as Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, so that they came up to meet him.

As a battle cry

2 Chronicles 13:12 See also Joshua 6:2–20; Judges 7:8, Judges 7:16–22; 2 Chronicles 13:14–15; Job 39:24–25; Jeremiah 4:19–21, Jeremiah 42:14; Hosea 5:8; Amos 2:2; Zephaniah 1:15–16

Now behold, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with their trumpets sound the battle call against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

To signal retreat

2 Samuel 2:28 See also 2 Samuel 20:22

So Joab blew the ram’s horn, and all the troops stopped; they no longer pursued Israel or continued to fight.

Use of the trumpet in worship

Played by priests

2 Chronicles 29:26 See also Ezra 3:10; Nehemiah 12:31–36, Nehemiah 12:40–42

The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

Played in the tabernacle

1 Chronicles 16:6 See also 1 Chronicles 15:24, 1 Chronicles 16:42

and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel blew the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.

Played in the temple

2 Chronicles 5:12–13 See also 2 Kings 12:13; 2 Chronicles 7:6, 2 Chronicles 29:27–28

all the Levitical singers — Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and relatives — stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps, and lyres, accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the LORD with one voice. They lifted up their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the LORD: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.” And the temple, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud

Played to praise God

Psalm 150:3 See also 1 Chronicles 13:8; 2 Chronicles 15:14–15, 2 Chronicles 20:28, 2 Chronicles 29:26; Nehemiah 12:40–41; Psalm 98:4–6

Praise Him with the sound of the horn; praise Him with the harp and lyre.

Accompanying the ark of the covenant

1 Chronicles 15:28 parallel 2 Samuel 6:14–15 See also Joshua 6:4, Joshua 6:8, Joshua 6:13

So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and with cymbals and the music of harps and lyres.

The trumpet associated with divine activity

In visible manifestations of God

Exodus 19:16–19 See also Exodus 20:18; Zechariah 9:14; Hebrews 12:18–21

On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the ram’s horn went out, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. And as the sound of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.

At the second coming of Jesus Christ

1 Thessalonians 4:16 See also Matthew 24:31; 1 Corinthians 15:51–52

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise.

In metaphorical use

Revelation 4:1 See also Isaiah 58:1; Revelation 1:10

After this I looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had previously heard speak to me like a trumpet was saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.”

The trumpet associated with angelic activity

Revelation 8:2 See also Revelation 8:6–8, Revelation 8:10, Revelation 8:12–13, Revelation 9:1, Revelation 9:13–14, Revelation 10:7, Revelation 11:15

And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets.

Trumpets sometimes made from silver

Numbers 10:2

“Make two trumpets of hammered silver to be used for calling the congregation and for having the camps set out.

Trumpets sometimes made from animal horn

Joshua 6:4 See also Exodus 19:13; Psalm 81:3

Have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark. Then on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the horns.

The trumpet in non-Israelite use

Revelation 18:22 See also Jeremiah 51:27

And the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will never ring out in you again. Nor will any craftsmen of any trade be found in you again, nor the sound of a millstone be heard in you again.