Numbers 10:1-5

The Blowing of Trumpets

10:1 ¹ The Lord spoke to Moses: 10:2 “Make ²  two trumpets of silver; you are to make ³  them from a single hammered piece. ⁴  You will use them ⁵  for assembling the community and for directing the traveling of the camps. 10:3 When ⁶  they blow ⁷  them both, all the community must come ⁸  to you to the entrance of the tent of meeting.

10:4 “But if they blow with one trumpet, then the leaders, the heads of the thousands of Israel, must come to you. ⁹  10:5 When you blow an alarm, ¹⁰  then the camps that are located ¹¹  on the east side must begin to travel. ¹² 

Joshua 6:6-20

6:6 So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and instructed them, “Pick up the ark of the covenant, and seven priests must carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Lord.” 6:7 And he told ¹³  the army, ¹⁴  “Move ahead ¹⁵  and march around the city, with armed troops going ahead of the ark of the Lord.”

6:8 When Joshua gave the army its orders, ¹⁶  the seven priests carrying the seven rams’ horns before the Lord moved ahead and blew the horns as the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed behind. 6:9 Armed troops marched ahead of the priests blowing the horns, while the rear guard followed along behind the ark blowing rams’ horns. 6:10 Now Joshua had instructed the army, ¹⁷  “Do not give a battle cry ¹⁸  or raise your voices; say nothing ¹⁹  until the day I tell you, ‘Give the battle cry.’ ²⁰  Then give the battle cry!” ²¹  6:11 So Joshua made sure they marched the ark of the Lord around the city one time. ²²  Then they went back to the camp and spent the night there. ²³ 

6:12 Bright and early the next morning Joshua had the priests pick up the ark of the Lord. ²⁴  6:13 The seven priests carrying the seven rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord marched along blowing their horns. Armed troops marched ahead of them, while the rear guard followed along behind the ark of the Lord blowing rams’ horns. 6:14 They marched around the city one time on the second day, then returned to the camp. They did this six days in all.

6:15 On the seventh day they were up at the crack of dawn ²⁵  and marched around the city as before – only this time they marched around it seven times. ²⁶  6:16 The seventh time around, the priests blew the rams’ horns and Joshua told the army, ²⁷  “Give the battle cry, ²⁸  for the Lord is handing the city over to you! ²⁹  6:17 The city and all that is in it must be set apart for the Lord, ³⁰  except for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the spies ³¹  we sent. 6:18 But be careful when you are setting apart the riches for the Lord. If you take any of it, you will make the Israelite camp subject to annihilation and cause a disaster. ³²  6:19 All the silver and gold, as well as bronze and iron items, belong to the Lord. ³³  They must go into the Lord’s treasury.”

6:20 The rams’ horns sounded ³⁴  and when the army ³⁵  heard the signal, ³⁶  they gave a loud battle cry. ³⁷  The wall collapsed ³⁸  and the warriors charged straight ahead into the city and captured it. ³⁹ 

Joshua 6:1

6:1 Now Jericho ⁴⁰  was shut tightly ⁴¹  because of the Israelites. No one was allowed to leave or enter. ⁴² 

Joshua 15:24

15:24 Ziph, Telem, Bealoth,

Joshua 16:6

16:6 It then extended on to the sea, with Micmethath on the north. It turned eastward to Taanath Shiloh and crossed it on the east to Janoah.

Psalms 68:25

68:25 Singers walk in front;

musicians follow playing their stringed instruments, ⁴³ 

in the midst of young women playing tambourines. ⁴⁴ 

[10:1]  ¹ sn Here we have a short section (10:1-10) dealing with the regulations for blowing trumpets in times of war or in times of peace.

[10:2]  ² tn The Hebrew text uses what is called the “ethical dative” – “make [for] you two trumpets.” It need not be translated, but can simply be taken to underscore the direct imperative.

[10:2]  ³ tn The imperfect tense is again instruction or legislation.

[10:2]  ⁴ sn The instructions are not clearly spelled out here. But the trumpets were to be made of silver ingots beaten out into a sheet of silver and then bent to form a trumpet. There is archaeological evidence of silver smelting as early as 3000 b.c. Making silver trumpets would have been a fairly easy thing for the Israelites to do. The trumpet would have been straight, with a tapered form, very unlike the “ram’s horn” (שׁוֹפָר, shofar). The trumpets were used by the priests in Israel from the outset, but later were used more widely. The sound would be sharp and piercing, but limited in scope to a few notes. See further C. Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments.

[10:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they shall be for you for assembling,” which is the way of expressing possession. Here the intent concerns how Moses was to use them.

[10:3]  ⁶ tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated as a temporal clause to the following similar verbal construction.

[10:3]  ⁷ tn The verb תָקַע (taqa’) means “to strike, drive, blow a trumpet.”

[10:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “the assembly shall assemble themselves.”

[10:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “they shall assemble themselves.”

[10:5]  ¹⁰ tn The word for an alarm is תְּרוּעָה (tÿru’ah). The root verb of this word means “to give a blast on the trumpet.” It may also on occasion mean “give a shout” in battle (Josh 6:10). In this passage it must refer to the sound of the trumpet.

[10:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the camps that are camping.”

[10:5]  ¹² tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive functions as the equivalent of the imperfect tense. Here the emphasis is on the start of the journey.

[6:7]  ¹³ tn An alternative reading is “and they said.” In this case the subject is indefinite and the verb should be translated as passive, “[the army] was told.”

[6:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the people.”

[6:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “pass by.”

[6:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “when Joshua spoke to the people.”

[6:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the people.”

[6:10]  ¹⁸ tn Or “the shout.”

[6:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “do not let a word come out of your mouths.”

[6:10]  ²⁰ tn Or “the shout.”

[6:10]  ²¹ tn Or “the shout.”

[6:11]  ²² tn Heb “and he made the ark of the Lord go around the city, encircling one time.”

[6:11]  ²³ tn Heb “and they entered the camp and spent the night in the camp.”

[6:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Joshua rose early in the morning and the priests picked up the ark of the Lord.”

[6:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “On the seventh day they rose early, when the dawn ascended.”

[6:15]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and they went around the city according to this manner seven times, only on that day they went around the city seven times.”

[6:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the people.”

[6:16]  ²⁸ tn Or “the shout.”

[6:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for the Lord has given to you the city.” The verbal form is a perfect, probably indicating certitude here.

[6:17]  ³⁰ tn Or “dedicated to the Lord.”

[6:17]  ³¹ tn Heb “messengers.”

[6:18]  ³² tn Heb “Only you keep [away] from what is set apart [to the Lord] so that you might not, as you are setting [it] apart, take some of what is set apart [to the Lord] and make the camp of Israel set apart [to destruction by the Lord] and bring trouble on it.”

[6:19]  ³³ tn Heb “it is holy to the Lord.”

[6:20]  ³⁴ tc Heb “and the people shouted and they blew the rams’ horns.” The initial statement (“and the people shouted”) seems premature, since the verse goes on to explain that the battle cry followed the blowing of the horns. The statement has probably been accidentally duplicated from what follows. It is omitted in the LXX.

[6:20]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the people.”

[6:20]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the sound of the horn.”

[6:20]  ³⁷ tn Heb “they shouted with a loud shout.”

[6:20]  ³⁸ tn Heb “fell in its place.”

[6:20]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and the people went up into the city, each one straight ahead, and they captured the city.”

[6:1]  ⁴⁰ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[6:1]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “was shutting and shut up.” HALOT 2:743 paraphrases, “blocking [any way of access] and blocked [against any who would leave].”

[6:1]  ⁴² tn Heb “there was no one going out and there was no one coming in.”

[68:25]  ⁴³ tn Heb “after [are] the stringed instrument players.”

[68:25]  ⁴⁴ sn To celebrate a military victory, women would play tambourines (see Exod 15:20; Judg 11:34; 1 Sam 18:6).