Psalms 47:5

47:5 God has ascended his throne ¹  amid loud shouts; ² 

the Lord has ascended his throne amid the blaring of ram’s horns. ³ 

Psalms 81:2-4

81:2 Sing ⁴  a song and play the tambourine,

the pleasant sounding harp, and the ten-stringed instrument!

81:3 Sound the ram’s horn on the day of the new moon, ⁵ 

and on the day of the full moon when our festival begins. ⁶ 

81:4 For observing the festival is a requirement for Israel; ⁷ 

it is an ordinance given by the God of Jacob.

Numbers 10:1-10

The Blowing of Trumpets

10:1 ⁸ The Lord spoke to Moses: 10:2 “Make ⁹  two trumpets of silver; you are to make ¹⁰  them from a single hammered piece. ¹¹  You will use them ¹²  for assembling the community and for directing the traveling of the camps. 10:3 When ¹³  they blow ¹⁴  them both, all the community must come ¹⁵  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. ¹⁶  10:5 When you blow an alarm, ¹⁷  then the camps that are located ¹⁸  on the east side must begin to travel. ¹⁹  10:6 And when you blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that are located on the south side must begin to travel. ²⁰  An alarm must be sounded ²¹  for their journeys. 10:7 But when you assemble the community, ²²  you must blow, but you must not sound an alarm. ²³  10:8 The sons of Aaron, the priests, must blow the trumpets; and they will be to you for an eternal ordinance throughout your generations. 10:9 If you go to war in your land against an adversary who opposes ²⁴  you, then you must sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved ²⁵  from your enemies.

10:10 “Also in the time when you rejoice, such as ²⁶  on your appointed festivals or ²⁷  at the beginnings of your months, you must blow with your trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, so that they may ²⁸  become ²⁹  a memorial for you before your God: I am the Lord your God.”

Numbers 10:1

The Blowing of Trumpets

10:1 ³⁰ The Lord spoke to Moses:

Numbers 15:28

15:28 And the priest must make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally – when he sins unintentionally before the Lord – to make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.

Numbers 15:2

15:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land where you are to live, ³¹  which I am giving you, ³² 

Numbers 5:12-13

5:12 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him, 5:13 and a man has sexual relations ³³  with her ³⁴  without her husband knowing it, ³⁵  and it is hidden that she has defiled herself, since ³⁶  there was no witness against her, nor was she caught –

Numbers 29:27

29:27 and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number as prescribed,

[47:5]  ¹ sn God ascended his throne. In the context of vv. 3-4, which refer to the conquest of the land under Joshua, v. 5 is best understood as referring to an historical event. When the Lord conquered the land and placed his people in it, he assumed a position of kingship, as predicted by Moses (see Exod 15:17-18, as well as Ps 114:1-2). That event is here described metaphorically in terms of a typical coronation ceremony for an earthly king (see 2 Sam 15:10; 2 Kgs 9:13). Verses 1-2, 8-9 focus on God’s continuing kingship, which extends over all nations.

[47:5]  ² tn Heb “God ascended amid a shout.” The words “his throne” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Lord’s coronation as king is described here (see v. 8). Here the perfect probably has a present perfect function, indicating a completed action with continuing effects.

[47:5]  ³ tn Heb “the Lord amid the sound of the ram horn.” The verb “ascended” is understood by ellipsis; see the preceding line.

[81:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “lift up.”

[81:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “at the new moon.”

[81:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “at the full moon on the day of our festival.” The Hebrew word כֶּסֶה (keseh) is an alternate spelling of כֶּסֶא (kese’, “full moon”).

[81:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “because a statute for Israel [is] it.”

[10:1]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect tense is again instruction or legislation.

[10:2]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated as a temporal clause to the following similar verbal construction.

[10:3]  ¹⁴ tn The verb תָקַע (taqa’) means “to strike, drive, blow a trumpet.”

[10:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the assembly shall assemble themselves.”

[10:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they shall assemble themselves.”

[10:5]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the camps that are camping.”

[10:5]  ¹⁹ 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.

[10:6]  ²⁰ tc The MT does not mention the departures of the northerly and westerly tribes. The Greek text completes the description by adding them, making a full schedule of the departure of the groups of tribes. The Greek is not likely to be original, however, since it carries all the signs of addition to complete the text, making a smooth, full reading. The MT is to be preferred; it apparently used two of the groups to give the idea.

[10:6]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew text has “they shall blow an alarm”; the sentence without a formal subject should be taken as a passive idea.

[10:7]  ²² tn There is no expressed subject in the initial temporal clause. It simply says, “and in the assembling the assembly.” But since the next verb is the second person of the verb, that may be taken as the intended subject here.

[10:7]  ²³ sn The signal for moving camp was apparently different in tone and may have been sharper notes or a different sequence. It was in some way distinguishable.

[10:9]  ²⁴ tn Both the “adversary” and “opposes” come from the same root: צָרַר (tsarar), “to hem in, oppress, harass,” or basically, “be an adversary.”

[10:9]  ²⁵ tn The Niphal perfect in this passage has the passive nuance and not a reflexive idea – the Israelites would be spared because God remembered them.

[10:10]  ²⁶ tn The conjunction may be taken as explicative or epexegetical, and so rendered “namely; even; that is,” or it may be taken as emphatic conjunction, and translated “especially.”

[10:10]  ²⁷ tn The vav (ו) is taken here in its alternative use and translated “or.”

[10:10]  ²⁸ tn The form is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. After the instruction imperfects, this form could be given the same nuance, or more likely, subordinated as a purpose or result clause.

[10:10]  ²⁹ tn The verb “to be” (הָיָה, hayah) has the meaning “to become” when followed by the preposition lamed (ל).

[10:1]  ³⁰ 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.

[15:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “the land of your habitations.”

[15:2]  ³² tn The Hebrew participle here has the futur instans use of the participle, expressing that something is going to take place. It is not imminent, but it is certain that God would give the land to Israel.

[5:13]  ³³ tn Heb “and a man lies with her with the emission of semen.” This makes it clear that there was adultery involved, so that the going astray is going astray morally. The indication in the text is that if she had never behaved suspiciously the sin might not have been detected.

[5:13]  ³⁴ tc The sign of the accusative אֹתָהּ (’otah) is probably to be repointed to the preposition with the suffix, אִתָּהּ (’ittah).

[5:13]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and it is concealed from the eyes of her husband.”

[5:13]  ³⁶ tn The noun clause beginning with the simple conjunction is here a circumstantial clause, explaining that there was no witness to the sin.