Yeremia 4:21

4:21 “How long must I see the enemy’s battle flags

and hear the military signals of their bugles?” ¹ 

Bilangan 10:2

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.

Bilangan 10:7

10:7 But when you assemble the community, ⁶  you must blow, but you must not sound an alarm. ⁷ 

Ayub 39:27

39:27 Is it at your command ⁸  that the eagle soars,

and builds its nest on high?

[4:21]  ¹ tn Heb “the sound of ram’s horns,” but the modern equivalent is “bugles” and is more readily understandable.

[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.

[10:7]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.

[39:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “your mouth.”